My Experiences with a Shipgirl
by Leadway001
Summary: I've never seen a shipgirl before nor has interacted with one. I am just a simple foot soldier from a foreign country that was unfortunately blockaded when the abyssals arrived. Well that was four years ago that is, now I am currently staring at the sea with a certain shipgirl in front of me. Tell you what, how about I tell you a story about my experiences with a shipgirl?
1. Page 11 of the 1111 RFO

**Page 11 of the 1111 RFO**

* * *

I was suddenly disturbed from my deep slumber. I opened my eyes slowly as I hear a loud clanking noise near my feet. Slowly with a nauseated head I raised my body on an upright position and rubbed the back of my head.

It was cold, very cold, the atmosphere that is. I removed the blankets that were covering my lower body and discovered that I did not have any clothes under there. I usually sleep without a shirt on, so it was not surprising that I realized that my upper body felt cold, what surprised me was the lack of clothing of my lower body.

With sloppy motions, I took my underwear that was hanging on the outer edge of the brown closet and then wore my military trousers. After that I inserted my old aging feet on my old Markana-Light-leather boots that was with me for over eleven years.

"Dammit, my eyesight is getting dull." I rubbed my eye sockets and walked towards the window.

I slowly pushed the curtains to the side so that the sunlight would illuminate the room. The reason being the room currently doesn't have a light bulb nor has electricity running on the cables.

Finally, I walked towards the tall bulging thing that was covered by another set of green blankets. It came to my attention that the sleeves of my jacket are peaking out under this green blanket. With slow but swift movements I removed the green blanket and immediately regretted it.

"Hnnggg~" I heard a groaning voic _e_.

Wearing my gray military jacket, she raised her body and sat upright on the bed while rubbing the back of her neck. She then looked at me with half-closed eyes, I could faintly see eye bags hanging under her eyes.

"Ah, fuck-san. Looks like you woke up first. It looks like we had a bad severe case of hangover yesterday and found ourselves in this baffling situation." She said with a calm tone.

Her greenish-gray eyes then finally opened with her left brow slight raised. She then spoke once more this time with a tired tone before she decided to cover her bare lower body with the green blanket.

"I just hope my admiral won't find out about this." She said as her greenish-gray hair fluttered to the side.

"What?"

My brain trembled, realizing that I have done something…. atrocious. Hirohito-sama, if you are awake and reasonable enough save me from this terrible situation.

I think just heard him saying 'Nope, you're on your own on this one Lieutenant' from Takama-ga-hara.

* * *

 **Credits for the image belongs to the artist o7**

 **And so the Story starts for the unlucky soldier. Hope you like it ;)**

 **Feedbacks are always appreciated ;)**


	2. Blue, blue as the seas

**Blue, blue as the seas.**

* * *

 **These hideous black creatures arrived out of nowhere. Some were colossally huge and some were small, almost human sized. These monsters had jaws that were large as fuck and they easily tore depleted uranium armor.**

 **Some had large gun barrels sticking out of their jaws and were powerful enough to penetrate modern battleship armor. They were quicker than a jet ski and more agile than an airplane.**

 **They blockaded their country and I was stuck on that country because my retrieval ship was destroyed when it was sailing across the pacific. The blue sky was packed full of these monsters that the locals call Abyssals, the sea is their domain, even on land they we are still no match against them.**

 **So I ask you this—**

 **How do you fight them?**

You see, during the time when things went from fine to total _shit storm_ humanity depended on its ability to adapt to the recent changes to make things easier. When that plan backfired, humanity was forced to perform hideous things to undo the things that made the _shit storm_ into a _total cluster fuck._

And when they did apply those hideous things, something else came.

Using things like summoning is pretty dangerous since you do not know what kind of creatures you might accidentally summon.

It could be a monster from a different parallel world, or even worse than that.

But during the first _test_ on the Kanto region in Central Japan something….something was summoned.

It was a girl….no, a woman, wearing a large blue coat and a blue navy cap. This woman was not just a mere normal human, oh no, she had these large gun barrels sticking out from her back. No, to be specific these gun barrels were bolted down on a metallic object that was attached on the woman's lower back.

She did not fall down from the weight nor make an awkward standing pose, she was standing perfectly.

After that the woman widened her eyes in realization. The searchlights were surrounding her, tank barrels pointing, machine guns at the ready and soldiers awaiting orders.

And I was there when _the first shipgirl_ arrived on Yokosuka Harbor.

"Panpakapan~! Second ship of the Takao-class heavy cruiser, Atago!" The woman shouted with a smile on her face.

And just like that, out of instinct. I fired my gun at her.


	3. Four Years Later

**Four years later**

* * *

Well it was really anti-climactic. Since I am not an admiral like Admiral Arimoto Goto for example, I was unable to meet the rest of the _girls that were armed to the teeth_.

The admiralty called them _shipgirls_ for some reason. Rumors had it that these shipgirls were called that way because they carry the spirits of the old warships that took part on both the First World War and the second one.

Well it's just a rumor and also when you think about it why did these girls named after ships or former ships that were destroyed in the Second World War?

Ships like Fubuki, Murasame, Shinonome, Atago, Takao, the tall Nagato or even the stoic aircraft carrier Kaga. The list just goes on, and according to the naval armaments stockpile there are only two ships exactly that aren't summoned yet.

 **[Seriously why am I even translating this one?! Why did I even listen to Akashi's advice?! I mean true this man did something during the Abyssal War but as I translated the first and second chapters isn't his story kinda plain?! Seriously, after I finished translating this chapter I'm not going to pick this one again. This book ain't even a simple book because the thickness is like a Holy Bible!]**

But don't be fooled by the lacking numbers. Every single one of these girls…yes let's just call them girls for now, are battle hardened veterans of the past world war. They knew the tactics and are dangerous to us normal humans. Why you ask? Because they are bodybuilders like the old Arnold Scheinigga camouflaged with a cute lady' skin. Imagine getting punched with Arnold Scheinigga in the face.

Heck, they even blew a large hole on an impenetrable armor of a Lo-class land based walker!

They might be girls but you must not omit the first word attached to it, yes they are still ship….s….girls. See? You just can't separate the two words because they cancel each other.

Anyway, the point is although they can eat normal food like us humans they still need fuel and ammunition. That means petroleum fuel and other kinds of fuel to run them and in terms of ammunition they require normal tungsten and steel according to the armaments department.

I am not even scratching the surface of the question: How come they can penetrate abyssal armor with just a miniature 203mm cannon and we cannot penetrate them with a nuke?

And yes, for some reasons unknown to us humans these shipgirls are the only beings that can penetrate an abyssal armor. However, their usage are only limited since they cannot walk on land when they are _on battle ready mode_ which is when they summon their riggings or in other terms summon those massive cannons around their body.

It's like a limitation you see, these girls can only use their cannons on their warship design maximum range. They can go further but accuracy just dropped considerably as every meter is added on the calculation. There's this phenomenon called "The Inverse Effect" where shipgirls are still missing their intended targets on the ground despite the calculations done by a high-tech Super Computer.

There is a positive side of this limitation which is destroying the blockade that surrounded Japan for almost four years. Supplies and other materials soon followed after that and the sudden war we didn't even realized was happening was turning its favor on our side, I think.

Unfortunately it was not just Japan who is experiencing these abyssal attacks. Europe, America, and even the Pacific Islands are being ravaged by these monsters. Just a week ago I saw this news about a large walker destroying the Eiffel Tower.

When I saw the bigger picture I really thought.

"We really are in a desperate situation."

Japan was kind enough to share the summoning technique that they used to summon their shipgirls. And it worked…

Ships like RIS Kirov and RIS Tashkent in the Russian Imperial Navy, KMS Bismarck and KMS Prinz Eugen of the Kriegsmarine, RN Litttoro and RN Roma of the Italian Navy, and even FNS Jean Bart of the French Navy.

The battle against the abyssals was really turning to our side. Wins over there, successful missions over there, the side of the winning team was being imprinted on the human side.

But we are not here to talk about the abyssal war that almost took the lives of millions upon millions of innocent civilian lives nor the amount of soldiers listed as dead or missing on thin sheet of paper.

No, this is not an over dramatic nor a painful story, this is a love story…yes a love story! You wouldn't mind a small love story right? Of you wouldn't, why did you even continued reading up until now? The title was already telling you from the start that this is a love story.

Now where was I? Me? You are asking who I am? Well I cannot blame you since we started with a gloomy tone.

My name is Ermest E. Fustaku, a normal infantry soldier of the 501st Expeditionary Legion under the commands of Commander Crisanto L. Aguinaldo. And yes, unfortunately because we are still stranded in Japan, we normal Filipino soldiers are currently posted on a small island near Yokosuka Harbor.

"Fuck-san, could you please pass the tea? I really need something to wipe away this sour throat."

"It's Fustaku-san you cunt! Please say the words properly or else I'm going to use my authority to pummel you down!"

"Tumahimik kana, Ermest. Can't you see the kid just want a tea? Don't you like it? Fuck-san is a good nickname."

"No, I don't like that nickname and will never approve such dishonorable nickname to my family name! You, can't you just pronounce my name properly? My name can be pronounced like a Japanese name you know?!"

"Eh? But whenever I pronounce your name properly like how normal Japanese citizens would do, you would always look back at us with killing intent."

"And does calling me Fuck-san make any difference?!"

Our banter continued on until another high ranking officer arrived and threw some papers on my head. They were thick, bible like thick, and there were six of them.

"Oy, Crisanto said to deliver these papers to Admiral Goto this instant." The short company officer named Arnold Skullan said with a glare.

"Eh? Kaylan mo natutunan mag Japanese?" A skinny guy named Galius Gevara complained as he arranged the papers sprawled across the ground.

"I learned it because I am currently stuck in Japan for over four years!"

"At ang English mo ay nabubulok na, fix mo muna iyan bago ka mag salita nang English."

Even though many soldiers in the Legion knew how to speak English fluently and a bit of Japanese this idiot named Galius Guevara still continued speaking vernacular even though Commander Crisanto ordered us to only speak English or Japanese when we are inside the naval base perimeter, and by naval base perimeter he meant the whole island.

"Right-right, so sino ang mag deliver nang papeles n'to? Busy ako kaya 'wag mo akong orderin na mag deliver." Arnold Skulla sat on my bed and sips at the cold tea that I made.

"I don't want to either." The Japanese soldier spoke.

"Same here" A black skinned guy answered immediately while cleaning his gadgets.

"Since when did we have a Japanese replacement in the Legion? For goodness sakes, Fuck you deliver the papers!" A brown skinned private fixed his eyeglass as he said those words.

"It's Fustaku! FUS-TA-KU! Kinalimutan mo na ang pangalan ng company commander mo?! And put the LT initials before my last name dammit!"

Arnold Skulla scratched the back of his head before coming out of the tent. With that said I immediately turned my head to the Japanese reservist that keeps on visiting us and bringing food from the locals. When he noticed my gaze he immediately tuned away and suddenly stood up.

Speaking in Japanese that I somehow understood he said "Looks like my time here is up, I'll bring more foods from the store later."

But I cut him off, because I need him to be my translator to enter the inner naval base perimeter.

"Teka muna, I need you." I said coldly as I stared through his eyes.

"P-please understand. I cannot enter the naval base as well." The Japanese soldier said with a displeased tone while speaking in English.

"No, you are my ticket to enter the inner perimeter. So follow my lead!"

I pulled the document stacks with a single hand and the other holding the soldiers arm. And yes, he tried his best on escaping but I still managed to pull him near the main naval base gate.

When he arrived in front of the gate a soldier wearing a blue navy uniform blew his whistle and pointed his hand at us. He was shouting in Japanese and as a Filipino native I clearly do not understand what he is saying. Why did you ask why I didn't understood what he was saying despite the fact that I was able to understood what this Japanese Reservist was saying that's because the Marine Guard is speaking English with a dialect. What he said was like _soko si tomaru_ but I clearly butchered what he said after hearing that so I turned my gaze at the Japanese soldier _accompanying_ me and gave him a glare.

I do not know why people get scared with my glares but it worked, my translator moved forward and explained the situation to the marine guard. They then started exchanging conversations like _how's your mom_ or something.

The marine guard nodded and opened the metal fence gate. With a salute I passed through the opened gate and tugged along the documents in my hand.

"Welcome to the naval base, Fuck-san." The marine guard said with a cheery tone that I immediately threw the thick documents to his face.

I did not regret my actions; in fact I was proud with it. I was so proud that the soldiers near the naval base even escorted me towards the Admiralty office where Admiral Goto is.

Clearly, I was very honored man because I was escorted but whenever I glanced over the Japanese reservist that I took with me he would gesture a _hand on the neck._ It was moving sideways and I knew what that gesture meant.

* * *

 **I am done! I'm finally done. Now, all that's left is to deliver this to Akashi and then bask myself with a proper winter break! Akashi? What are you doing here? Eh? Why are you pulling that?! Eh?! Eh?!**


	4. The Secretary Ship

**The secretary ship**

* * *

I was escorted in front of a closed double door. The poor Japanese reservist that was with me was escorted out of the building after they realized that they were escorting an unauthorized personnel as well.

Left alone, I waited for a while. They might come back after they took away the Japanese reservist, someone might come over and escort me further in the Admiralty Building. Who knows?

As I stand there staring at the closed brown double doors, a heavy tap came to my shoulder. It was soo heavy that you could feel the fingers digging on your shoulder. I turned around to see who it was and was met with a stunning beautiful girl wearing a serafuku on top of a long-sleeved zippered shirt and a blue pleated skirt with hakama-like hip vents. She has white stripes along the brim of their skirt and wears thigh-highs. She wears a necktie on her zippered shirt, glasses, and a cyan-colored hairband.

"E-Ah?!" I stuttered.

The girl tilted her head and said something in Japanese then she leaned towards my arm and saw my military patches. One of which is the division patch that resembles a fox and the words Legion underneath it.

The girl saluted and said something like "chu-yee?" or something, I saluted back and raised the documents in my hand.

"I was ordered to deliver this to the admiral…" I slowly said in English.

The girl widened her eyes and immediately turned towards the door, she then hastily opened the door and said something like "Dozo".

After moving a couple of steps I saw Admiral Goto sitting behind a large table full of papers stacked like the Eiffel tower. The admiral raised his head and furrowed an eyebrow towards me.

"First Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku, I was ordered to deliver these documents to you sir." I saluted and said stiffly.

I haven't met Admiral Goto face to face and seeing his old and tired face is enough to make me feel out of place. The admiral saluted and then made a smile as he stood up from his table and approached me, he then leaned to the side and made a modest bow.

"EH?!"

"I am very thankful for your efforts at the battle of Kanmonkyo Bridge. If the 501st Legion weren't there we would've lost another part of Japan. I, Arimoto Goto, Admiral of the Combined Fleet branch of the IJN, thank you for your efforts and sacrifices." He said earnestly.

When I heard that name again I somehow felt empty and angry. No, I am not angry at Admiral Goto's name, what I am furious about is the name of that bloody bridge.

It was called the impenetrable bridge in the south, the great wall of Japan so they say. But when an over-sized To-class light cruiser look alike came out of nowhere, the impenetrable wall of the south had a large hole at the center.

Being the closest Division at that time we were tasked on defending that bridge until the IJA were able to mobilize their troops to the south. With the southern army that was responsible for defending the most southern part of Japan's land gone, an over-sized Division like ours were called upon to defend the bridge that connects the Kyushu Island Group and Mainland Japan….

You know what's funny? We aren't even defending our homeland, we were dying on a foreign land that even invaded us in the Second World War and even did hideous things to my people. So why are we risking our lives to defend the country that invaded us in the past?

Ten thousand soldiers defended that small strip of land. And half of that were gone when the relief force arrived. Simple math, what is 10000 divided by 2? That's five thousand survivors; you were tempted to use the calculator weren't you?

Now you might be asking. Why are we doing in a place like Japan? Well we were sent here to attend a large scale land based excise that the Japanese proposed four years ago. A week after that the abyssals arrived and you should know what happened next.

"No sir, don't mind. We are just doing our job…." I said to him.

I buried the words that I've said after that battle, I don't want to remember the faults of my words on that day. I shall never repeat them in front of the combined fleet admiral.

 _Even though we've died on a foreign land, even when half of us wanted to go home to their families and protect them?_

I shall never repeat those words in front of him. I may not know him, but I sure do hell know that he's been doing his job as an admiral. He's been tasked to lead the newly formed Combined Fleet after all; he's been doing his part on protecting his country….

Who am I to say something that would only tarnish his thanks to us?

What the hell am I saying?

"A-anyhow sir, I've been told to deliver these documents to you." I bowed to him and gave him the documents when he raised his head.

The admiral grabbed the documents and placed them on the table. He then said something to the girl that prompted her to close the double doors and pulled a chair somewhere.

"Would you like to have tea with me, Lieutenant?" Admiral Goto said as he poured tea on a small brown cup.

I've been told to say yes when a Japanese person presented something to me and since it's an order from Crisanto himself. I shall accept it since it is now a stone caved order.

"Yes, thank you." I replied.

Admiral Goto gave me the cup before pouring on the other. After blowing the lid of the cup and then singlehandedly drank it, I returned the cup to the admiral.

"So, tell me. How's your situation right now, Lieutenant."

"Huh? Uh, been good sir. Although we are still undermanned but we've done something to address that problem. Anything else, well we've been doing fine I guess."

"A straight forward answer. I've been told that the 501st Legion will be stationed here for another year or two. Scouts have been sent near the Philippine sea where there are still large amounts of abyssal activity there."

The blockade around Philippines hasn't been lifted yet. We've been told by the marine guards a week ago. When you want to destroy a blockade it is good to penetrate it from the inside, or so they say. With Philippines not having any original warships during the two wars the blockade hasn't been lifted for four years now.

"We've already discovered a large concentration of red miasma on that sector. It's going to be difficult but we'll do our best to free your people in the right time."

"When that time comes, I'll surely give you my hidden stash of wine."

"Oh, now-now. I am already old enough to be wary on drinking too much wine for my age." The admiral softly laughed.

"Then the coconuts it is then."

"Haha, maybe-maybe."

The admiral poured another tea on the two cups; I hurried said "Ah, no need. One is enough for me." To him before he started pouring on the other tea cup.

"I just hope this war will end soon." I said softly.

"We all wanted that, Lieutenant Fustaku-san. Soldiers, seamen, civilians, shipgirls."

"Ah, please drop the horrific, admiral. Calling me Fustaku is good enough." I said with a small laugh.

The admiral laughed before saying something in Japanese to the girl beside him. From the things this girl is doing she must be a secretary girl or something.

"Oh, I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I am light cruiser Ooyodo. I am currently the secretary ship of the Admiral for now." She said in English.

Oh, looks like I've hit the jackpot for guessing what her job was in this room. And a shipgirl too, well it was kinda obvious when you think about it. A girl wearing a nonmilitary uniform on a heavily guarded place and beauty that's beyond explanation of course she is a shipgirl!

"Ah right, um hello."

"Oh don't be so stiff, Lieutenant Fuck-san." Ooyodo said with a giggle.

Wait…did I hear that right?

"Umm, excuse me what did you call me?"

"Oh don't be so stiff?" Ooyodo repeated while tilting her head to the side.

"After that" I continued.

"Lieutenant Fuck-san?" Ooyodo innocently said as she raised an eyebrow at me.

Okay seriously I heard that right and I'm not that deaf enough to mishear that.

"Ooyodo-san, I would like to correct you on something that is very offensive on my part." I said while making a smile towards Ooyodo.

Ooyodo made a wary smile as she took a step back from me. What's wrong Ooyodo? Is my smile that scary? I've been told that my smile is too scary for Japanese standards.

* * *

 **Goddammit! Goddammit! Why am I forcing myself again?! Akashi-san please stop teasing me already! Help somebody! Save me from her clutches~!**


	5. Canteen

**Canteen**

* * *

I felt stump. After coming back from the admiralty office I found the company camp practically empty of any human presence.

I am currently standing in front of my platoon teen that has a total capacity of ten soldiers. That includes their own beds, own closets and racks. When I realized that the tent was empty there is only one thing what that means.

Lunch time.

I ran. I ran as fast as I could possibly do. Why? Because today's menu is Filipino dishes, those things that I haven't eaten for almost four years now. And on the top of the request list is a dish that I loved the most. Chicken Adobo.

It's a dish that I cannot explain in detail since I am not a cook and I do not want to learn the process how it is cooked but I can tell you a bit of it, chicken adobo is a dish where meat is preserved in vinegar that is also mixed with other spices. It's a preservation technique so to say.

However, when I arrived at the Filipino canteen that is set up about five hundred meters from the company tent where I came from, they were already washing the dishes. Soldiers would come and go placing their plates on the washing bin.

"Ah, where have you been? The last batch has already taken everything." A mess man approached me and made a long sigh.

"Wala na?" I asked in my Filipino tongue.

"Yeah, there aren't any left." The mess man repeated.

I could feel my cheeks heating up and a faint wet feeling on my eyes. I realized that I was faintly crying in front of the mess man.

"Ano ba, adobo lang iyan. May bukas pa so—"

"When is next time?! I ran off.

Shit I really cried in front of the mess man. Well you could just say that I feel homesick, or you might say something like I am being childish but really, I've been stuck in this country for almost four years now at least give me something that can cure my homesickness.

As I ran and ran I suddenly came to a stop not because a random tree root appeared out of nowhere and pulled the soles of my boots, I was just dead tired. I haven't eaten anything ever since I was startled awake five in the morning by a stupid night battle addict.

A small bento is not enough to stuff a Filipino soldier' stomach, I said to myself. How long have I been running? Man I really ran a few meters from the makeshift Filipino canteen that I didn't even realized that I was already on a forest already.

The trees move side to side as the winds blew on them. The rustling sound it makes almost made me reminiscent the trees that were surrounding my home on the mountains of Cebu. Although it was already afternoon the heat did not settle on to my skin, it almost feels like that the heat of the sun wasn't there anymore.

Is it because that the sun rays here in Japan are less powerful than the one's in the Philippines? Or is my sense of heat was just that broken? Either way, I feel at bliss as the wind pass over my overly grown hair that hasn't been trimmed for a year now.

I lay my back on the grass and rested by head on the tree root. The wind kept blowing, and as time pass by I didn't even realized I was already dozing off.

 **~o~**

"Bex! Are there any adobo left?" A girl's voice came from behind.

The man turned around and saw a girl wearing a white shortened miko uniform. She looked Japanese and he hasn't seen that hair color before.

"Hmm? Yes there's a bit left. Why?" The man replied in broken Japanese.

The girl somehow understood what the man said and continued speaking in Japanese.

"I would like to take all of it." The girl announced.

The eyes of the Filipino mess man who heard the conversation widened. The mess man can understand Japanese since he's been learning the Japanese language way before their first arrival here in japan.

"Ha?"

The girl was annoyed when she heard Bex's blatant reply so she approached the man named Bex and spoke in English that Bex was somehow able to understand.

"I want all of the remaining adobo placed on this bowl, please."

The girl presented a large bowl…..an extra-large bowl. The soldiers that were eating on the ground focused their gaze at the girl as they realized just how big that bowl was. Questions like how could she retain her body with that kind of appetite?!

But the girl did not answer their questions. She only focused her gaze at the eyes of the man named Bex who is staring back at her with an opened mouth and a spatula on his hand.

"Oy! May nagsabi ba kung pwede ba tayong magbigay nang adobo sa mga hapon?" Bex whispered to the guy next to him who was also making a dubious face at the girl.

"No I don't remember anyone saying that we are prevented from giving any adobo to the Japanese." The man next to Bex whispered back in English.

Bex immediately moved away from the racks of emptied bowls on the wash tray and approached the girl, carefully taking the large bowl from her slender hand. He was hesitant for a second whether to use the spatula on his hand or to just use the bowl to scoop the adobo from the _caldero._ But then he remembered that the Japanese also loved rice so he filled the bottom half of the bowl with rice before putting adobo on top.

With a smile Bex said "Here you go." to the girl. The girl said "Thank you" in English but what he heard was more like "Sankyu" rather than "Thank you." But he buried that deep inside his head.

Bex is a joker and he loves to pick a fight with anyone but when he saw the happy smile from that girl's face he refrained from saying anything. _She spoke in broken English, but what can I say I speak broken Japanese as well._

And this happened a few minutes before Ermest arrived at the Filipino canteen.

 **~o~**

I woke up from my blissful nap when I suddenly felt a heavy thud slamming on my forehead. With my eyes opened I hurriedly stood up and realized that a stick is peeking out at the middle my vision.

The tip had a white and red color scheme and the rest had a green and red dot. I immediately thought that an arrow just landed dead center on my head and I was just lucky enough that I am alive and saying these things in my head.

I put my trembling fingers on the edge and slowly pulled it, I realized that the arrow did not burry itself into my head. The tip did not have the normal metal edge on it, it was just a regular arrow with white paint on the tips.

"What in a world." I said under my breath.

"SOOOORRRRYYY~!"

Then came a woman's voice. I turned my head and saw a woman wearing a short miko uniform and had an attire of an archer. On her hand is a wooden bow and on her side is a wooden plank.

A plank? Upon closer inspection it resembled a flight deck used by aircraft carriers. The woman finally arrived in front of me, she was breathing heavily and sweat buds was stacking up on her forehead.

"I am terribly sorry, I am terribly sorry for hitting you soldier-san!"

The woman kept making an overextended bow and shouting an apology in Japanese. I knew what she was saying since we've been practicing how to apologize before we even arrived here.

"No-no, its fine as long as no one is hurt everything is fine." I said to her in English.

"Eh?"

"Ah, did I say something wrong?"

"Oh I am terribly sorry for hitting you in the head with my arrow." She finally apologized in English.

I waved my hand at her saying that it is fine but she continued saying sorry anyway. I need to do something or else this woman will keep apologizing to me all day long.

"It's fine….miss, its fine. Here's your arrow." I said to her softly.

The woman raised her head and looked at my direction. Slowly she grabbed the tip of the arrow and placed it back on her quiver which was attached on her back. With a final bow, she made a smile before turning around.

Then she suddenly stopped, she turned around yet again and softly said.

"Um, it's for your own good soldier-san. But would you please relocate from here?"

"Eh?"

"Ah, no I meant moving on a different location rather than here."

The woman lowered her vision before pointing her hand on a general direction, more like towards an open area where there are white planks with red marks on them.

"Since you are resting behind a target practice area, I do not wish to hit you again in the head, but my bad luck would—"

"Oh-oh, I understand. Phew, luckily for me those arrows were not mounted with metal edges, hahaha." I tried to shrug the topic off.

"Oh, umm, these arrows aren't mounted with arrowheads like normal arrows since these arrows launch my girls after all." The woman said with a smile.

"E-excuse me but did I just hear that you are launching your daughters with these?!"

The woman immediately became flustered, she waved her hand with her bow and I tried my best dodging it.

"I do not have daughters soldier-san. By girls, I meant my pilots."

"EH?"

"I-it looks like you do not understand the words I am saying…..hmmm, since Kaga-san in on a pacific sortie right now." The woman muttered under her breath.

Then her eyes widens… more like she thought of something that I clearly do not know about.

"Okay how about you come with me, I'll show you something that will blow your mind!" She declared.

"I think I almost experienced that a while ago." I retorted.

And she continued apologizing for another fifteen times after that retort. Rule to one's self: Keep the retorts to yourself.

We arrived in front of this large wooden building approximately two hundred meters from the forest edge. There were guards there as well and when they saw me the guards immediately halted me from my tracks.

The woman ran back and told the soldiers about me coming with her, the guards made dubious faces before letting me continue but they still followed her orders.

She then opened the sliding door and we were greeted by this small little girl that wore a black sailor uniform and a moon attached on her brown hair.

"Ah, Shoukaku-san! I've already replenished the canteens on the firing range…" Before she trailed off…

The little girl looked at me with a wary gaze, she then took a step back and said something that made the woman named Shoukaku flustered before she shooed the little girl away.

"Ehem, now that's been dealt with follow me."

"Excuse me." I said in Japanese while I remove my boots.

It took me a while to remove them but I was able to catch up with her. We walked pass these portraits of beautiful girls attached on the wall, I saw her portrait as well. She showed a calm demeanor and a warm smile just like what I am currently seeing on the real life Shoukaku.

When she turned around she immediately turned away when she realized I was staring at her portrait and differentiating them.

Then we arrived at this spacious area. White plank targets were sprawled across the three hundred meter radius. Then I realized how far she hit me in the head.

"You shot me from this position…" I said softly in amazement.

"Look I was trying to hit target 12 but I miscalculated and hit you instead. I did not saw you when I fired my arrow, until the last second."

When I peered over target 12, I realized that she shot a few meters away from target 12….more like she clearly missed and somehow hit me who was sleeping on the forest edge on that tree. Then a thought came to me.

"I though arrows need elevation to hit that far."

"Oh, normal archery targeting mechanics does not apply to me. Since I just need to fire them in a general direction and control the arrow to disperse my planes."

"Planes?!"

"Yes, planes."

"Ah, right."

"Here let me show you."

Shoukaku pulled a green tipped arrow from her quiver and placed it on her bow. There was this silent pause before a deafening sonic boom came to my ear. It happened so fast that my eyes were stuck on her back unable to see what she was trying to show me.

Shoukaku turned around and made a worried expression. She must've realized that she overextended the power to lunch the arrow. I did not hear what the words she is saying since all I could hear were ringing chimes of the church bell. But when I turned my eyes towards target 12, I could see holes sprayed all over it.

Then they flew by, planes. No, miniature planes that resembles a Zero or to be specific a Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero. It was small, small enough that would fit on my eight and half inch hand.

Shoukaku came closer and gestured me to widen my hand and I followed, then a few seconds later a plane landed on my hand almost immediately. The cockpit glass opened and there I saw a small thing that was three inches in length, it saluted me before jumping back inside the plane and made a sudden take off.

"Those are my girls." Shoukaku said beside me.

Some of them were performing a formation on the sky. It resembled a letter V and then a few seconds later they dived down on an unfortunate target which is target 10.

Their guns blazing, although they were small I could hear the plane's armaments firing in full volume. Holes were sprawled on target 10 and after their attack the planes formed a single file line and landed on Shoukaku's wooden plank—I mean flight deck.

The planes moved closer before folding into a single arrow that Shoukaku fired. After that she placed the arrow back onto her quiver and looked at my way.

"So?! It's amazing right?!" She declared.

"Yeah, pretty amazing….though, I already knew you were an aircraft carrier shipgirl at first sight." I said bluntly.

"Ehhh, you're no fun." She complained with a pout. "Sorry for the late introduction but my name is Shoukaku, the nameship of the Shoukaku-class Standard carrier series."

"And I also know that as well." I said to her. "Oh well since you've introduced yourself it would be rude not to introduce myself as well." I said before I came to a pause. Yes I must say my name slowly or else she might call me Fuck-san too. "My name is Ermest Fustaku, First Lieutenant of Una Company or what's left of it."

"Nice to meet you, Fustaku-san." Shoukaku said with a smile.

To tell you the truth I must've been grinning at that point since she was making a confused expression as she leaned over me. Oh, did I already tell you that she is taller than me by a large margin?

I may be a tall soldier but in front of me I just realized how small I was compared to her.

"I hope you won't get mad but how tall are you?"

"Hm? I'm 179 centimeters tall, why? Oh…" Shoukaku trailed as she realized what I meant. She made a forced laugh trying to shrug it off but it was already set in stone.

Before I could say something a loud thud came to my side. I could feel the vibrations under my feet as I turned around and saw a human pile salad peeking from the hallway.

"Ah, we've been spotted Mutsuki let's scram." A black haired girl wearing a sailor uniform shouted as they tried running away.

"Shoukaku-nee, I've hauled some chicken adobo from the Filipino mess hall!" Another voice emerged from the hallway.

She had a grayish green hair in twin tails and had a shorten miko outfit. On her hand is a large bowl full of chicken adobo and rice…

But that did not mattered because when she saw me she immediately froze in place with her eyes emptied like void.

I turned my head and saw Shoukaku having the same expression as well. With a wary smile on my face, I slowly moved towards the hallway before making a modest bow.

"T-thank you for showing me the amazing thing, Shoukaku-san. It looks like you've got company; I shall see myself off then." I said robotically.

When I finally touched the rims of the wooden sliding door a hand suddenly rests on my shoulder. It was heavy and a looming dark presence is engulfing me. I turned around and saw the twin tail girl making a complicated expression on her face and said in English.

"Where do you think you're going?"

At that point I should've just busted the sliding door and ran with my tail tucked under me. But due to her heavy hand and tall presence I was frozen in place, I did not realize back then that I made a terrible mistake.

 **Chapter End**


	6. Lunch with the Carrier Fleet

**Lunch with the Carrier Fleet**

* * *

So after being knocked out to the dark void world, I woke up and found myself sitting cross legged in front of a short table. I rubbed my eye sockets to clear away the blur that I am seeing and realized that it was a bowl full of rice.

I was not alone, sitting next to me is tall woman wearing a green kimono top and a green skirt and opposite to her is another tall woman wearing a yellow kimono top. When I turned my head in front of me, I saw another woman wearing a white miko outfit glaring it me. Her eyes were like daggers pinning me in the neck, I could feel a cold sweat sliding at the side of my temples.

"Ara you've already woken up? Here eat this, it's very sour but it tastes good."

The woman next to me wearing a green kimono top looked at me in the eye and gave a bowl stuffed with meat. Upon closer inspection I realized what it was.

"Zuikaku said that this dish is called adobo. Here pour it over the rice bowl." She said.

"Souryuu-san, please don't pamper him too much. Even though he is a man, he is still a man in the Army. Who knows what kind of illicit things he is thinking right now." The woman in front of me said sharply as she put some meat on her mouth while stabbing her eyes on me.

"Oh come one now." The woman wearing a yellow kimono top spoke while emptying the bowl in a single go. "You knocked him out, he's been out for a while, don't be so hostile towards him, Zuikaku."

"And why are you even looking at him with hostility? The soldiers in the Army aren't that scary you know…" I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?" Zuikaku frowned clearly showing that she heard what I said.

I immediately showed a wary smile and grabbed the rice bowl with my dominant hand and poured the adobo on top of the rice. My mouth immediately drooled as I stuffed the rice with adobo, Zuikaku noticed this made and immediately change her expression into distaste.

"Uhhhh"

It was at that point that I realized there are no spoon and fork on the table. Chopsticks, why haven't I realized that the Japanese people use chopsticks as a means of eating?

And for my part, I don't know how to use chopsticks as an eating utensil. Why are chopsticks even called eating utensils instead of eating sticks?

I buried those thoughts under my head and grabbed the two sticks that was neatly placed on the table. Turning to my side I observed how the woman named Souryuu used the chopsticks to eat.

I tried mimicking it but only realizing that I kept dropping the meat on the bowl. I gritted my teeth as I repeatedly do the same mistake over and over again. After failing for about the tenth time I gave up and just raised the bowl over my mouth and used the chopsticks as a shovel.

The woman next to me realized what I was doing and showed me a surprised expression.

"Wow I did not expect you to be that hungry." She said with her eyes widen.

"He's like an idiot that hasn't eating for almost a month." Zuikaku retorted.

"Come on Zuikaku you don't have to spite that man so much." The woman wearing a yellow kimono spoke in distaste as she finally stuffed her bowl with the next batch of rice.

"Oh wow, he clearly is like an idiot who hasn't eaten for almost a month. Look at him crying as he stared at the emptied bowl." Zuikaku made a side along glance.

Crying? Oh. When I rested a hand on my cheeks I realized that I've been tearing up all of a sudden. Man I must have looked pathetic in front of the ladies.

"Oh, I'm sorry it's been a while since I've eaten a local cuisine of my country." I said softy.

After the blur subsided I realized that the mood around me stiffens. Did I say something wrong? Why is Souryuu-san looking at me with a darkened expression?

"Zuikaku, why did you bring a foreigner here?" The woman wearing in yellow kimono finally spoke.

Zuikaku turned towards the cold stare of that woman and immediately made an "eeek" sound. She was sweating on her temples and her hands trembling in fear.

"I-I thought pranking this man would serve as a warning not to show himself here again but I was engulfed by the mood of pranking him that I forgot to tell you about the details." Zuikaku spoke in protest.

"Oh what are the minor details, Zuikaku? I thought Kaga-san already taught you about the consequences about bringing foreign personnel in the Carrier dorm…So why did you still bring this man here?" Souryuu spoke coldly

And they were talking in Japanese and somehow I could understand them. I fell silent and looked down at the bowl full of adobo at the center of the table. The mood was so stiff so I did not butt in to make the problem even worse. I just need a bit of additional meat to satisfy my homesickness.

As I slowly rested the chopsticks at the rim of the bowl a hand suddenly came from the side, preventing me from doing anything to the large bowl.

"And you Mr. Foreigner, we've already given you your share of the adobo so why are you resting your chopsticks on my bowl?" Souryuu said scarily as she looked at me in the eyes.

"Sumi-masen…." I said in Japanese.

"Oh so you can speak Japanese after all, how about introducing yourself to us?" Hiryuu said in a mocking tone.

I was sweating, a lot. My hands were sweating and my ears felt itchy, I really want to just run away and not look back but that slim soft hand was so heavy that it prevented me from doing anything…man that phrase is becoming my signature line now.

"O-ore wa, Ermest Fustaku…desu. Ore wa F-first Lieu-Lieutenant of the Una C-Company of the 501st L-Legion….desu."

A loud clank came to my ear that I suddenly closed my eyes and prepared for a good slapping but that was not the case. When I opened my eyes a saw the woman named Zuikaku paled like a sheet of paper. I lowered my eyes and saw a bowl spinning on the floor.

"Zuikaku-san, what is that man talking about? He is speaking Japanese but I could only understand the gist of it. Care to translate it for us since you keep interacting with foreigners outside the naval base?" Souryuu turned her eyes on Zuikaku and said those words.

Zuikaku nodded then spoke, she translated what I said in fluent Japanese that I, then again, somehow understand.

"He said his name is Ermest Fustaku and he is a First Lieutenant of Una Company of the 501st Legion…"

"Ah" The yellow kimono top woman and Souryuu spoke simultaneously.

"You did not mistranslated it right?" The woman in yellow kimono spoke.

Zuikaku turned her head in denial. When the yellow kimono top woman saw that she immediately paled and turned her head to the side.

"I-I'll go get some tea, yeah?" She said.

"H-here have some of my meat here take it." Souryuu said in a soft manner.

I couldn't understand what changed the mood from dangerous into stiff in a split second but I followed what Souryuu told me and immediately stuffed my mouth with adobo meat.

"Dozo~" The yellow kimono top woman said with a chirp.

It was normal tea, a green tea poured over a brown cup. I really wanted water to soothe my throat but I must've been requesting too much from her so I refrained from asking her for a cup of water.

It tastes good though, better than the tea that Admiral Goto gave me. It was kinda sweet for some reason not like the same tea I always drink.

"Thank you for the food." I said in broken Japanese.

The woman in yellow kimono sat next to Zuikaku and showed me a wide bright smile. It was scary, although she looked cute I got this feeling of dread behind that bright smile for some reason. I smile back and she immediately made a slamming bow to the table.

"I am really sorry for being rude towards you, Fuck-san! I really am very sorry!"

"I'm sorry as well for stopping from getting the adobo meat on my bowl!" Souryuu shouted while making a knee bow on the wooden floor.

"Zuikaku say sorry as well!" The woman in the yellow kimono shouted pushing the forehead of the woman named Zuikaku to the table smashing the wooden table into two parts.

"Ow-ow-ow!"

"Hurry, say sorry!"

"I am sorry Fuck-san for knocking you out…eeekkk!"

I must've looked like a demon when she peaked at me. I could feel the side of my temples pulsing uncontrollably, and my teeth making an audible grinding sound.

"Please..." I said before pausing. "Please pronounce my name properly you milk tank shits." I spoke with a calm tone.


	7. Initial Interactions

**Initial Interaction**

* * *

 **A few minutes later**

"I am sorry!" I shouted with a kneeling bow at the three carriers.

The first one waved her hand saying that it was okay since they were the first ones who initiated it. But after saying those words at them you probably would've done the same thing…saying sorry to them after calling them _milk tank shits_.

"I-it is okay, Ermest-san so let's stop apologizing to each other, right Tomon-maru?" The yellow kimono top woman named Hiryuu spoke to the small _fairy_ (?) beside her.

The small female fairy shouted 'Oi' with a thumb sticking upward in a pose. Hiryuu then made a faint 'hehe' before turning to my general direction.

On the other hand the shortened miko outfitted woman named Zuikaku only averted her eyes from me as I looked at her general direction.

"I did not expect that one to go downhill, though I am sorry, I will surely not let you come close to Shoukaku-nee in the near future." She said.

"Forgive her mannerism but she is kinda possessive when it comes to her older sister Shoukaku-san, so please let it slide." Souryuu spoke with an apologetic expression.

"I'm not possessive! I just don't like him approaching Shoukaku-nee!"

"Yes-yes, tsundere turkey." Hiryuu spoke with a hand waving side to side.

"I am not a turkey!" Zuikaku protested.

The three of them exchanged shouts at each other for a while, forgetting that I am sitting cross legged in front of them. Four years ago I was told not to approach a shipgirl if I ever come close to one, I must show respect to them by bowing at them if they make contact to me and must say _excuse me_ if they wanted to start a conversation. Those were my orders given by Crisanto. But now, I'm casually watching the three of them exchanging insults at each other, like any normal human beings.

It's just like times like these that you would sometimes wonder that if they really differentiate from us normal humans. These girls looked human, they had the skin of a human, they had the voice of a human, they had the features like a human, they had large…..wait…they had bodies like a normal female human. What is there to differentiate them from being called a human being?

Then I saw Hiryuu took something like a beverage can from her pockets and opened the lid on top. She then drank it singlehandedly while listening to the insults Zuikaku is shouting at her. After she emptied it, she crushes it and threw it to the side.

That crushed aluminum can suddenly found itself in front of me. I grabbed the can and noticed the stench it was emitting. It was not a sweet smell, no it was oil, fuck it was petrol oil or something. Then it hit me, yep normal humans don't drink oil.

"Uhuh." I said to myself before throwing the can at my back.

"If only Kaga-san was here, she would've put some leashed around your neck to control you!"

"That only means you can't control your underlings! That is why Kaga-san is placed higher than you!"

"Oy!" The small female fairy shouted.

It was clearly getting out of hand; the two of them are already strangling each other, like two little kids fighting over a small toy. Souryuu was stuck between the two and was trying to be composed in front of me as well as calming the two down.

"Stop pulling both of you, don't you see there is a man in front of us?!" Souryuu finally snapped.

The two aircraft carriers stopped and immediately fixed their shambled outfits. Good thing I was only staring at the sortie board hanging on the ceiling.

As of today, the First Carrier Group which is composed of Akagi and Kaga were sortied together with the Fourth Carrier Group composed of Chitose and Chiyoda. Well we say a carrier group but these two shipgirls are actually seaplane tenders.

The second, third and five carrier divisions were on standby and the reserve ships like Amagi, Unryuu and Katsuragi were on training exercises on the Northern Peninsula.

"Oh, it looks like you guys have calmed down." I said as I lowered my gaze from the sortie board.

Hiryuu and Zuikaku had displeased expressions on their faces, and Souryuu was stuck in between with a hanging smile on her face. It must've been tiring being lumped together with this problematic group…

Then the topic changed into a thanksgiving session for some reason. The first one to open the topic was unbelievable Zuikaku, who was averting her gaze from me.

"Anyhow thank you for protecting that bridge until we arrived. If we haven't arrived in time who knows what would've happened."

"Wait it was your group that arrived there to clear the skies?" I asked in English.

"Well to be specific it was Shoukaku-nee's group since she was the flagship of the detachment fleet that was sent on the south to clear the skies from the enemy planes. I was just supporting her at that time." She answered.

"I-is that so, maybe she isn't that of a klutz after all." I said unknowingly.

"What did you just say?" Zuikaku immediately spatted.

I waved my hand in denial for the words that I just said, somehow she was persuaded by it and immediately changed the topic after that.

"Even though we are shipgirls who are specialized in defeating the abyssals. We are just hopeless when it comes to land based targets." Hiryuu continued.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well we are not technically that hopeless. If we see them we can just bombard them with our bombs or shells. But flushing them out of hiding is a different story. That is the reason why are called shipgirls not tanks…."

"You got a point, you are the embodiment of the former ships that sunk from the past war not the tanks that were destroyed in mass numbers like the Battle of Kursk." I said with a hand resting on my chin.

Souryuu and Hiryuu laughed as they heard my example. With a deep sigh Souryuu leaned her head and made a smile.

"You're quick to understand. Well another reason is that when we summon our riggings our weight would jump from normal 50 kilograms into a whooaaaaping 16,200 tons." She extended her arms to the side trying to make an illustration to how much she weighted when summoning her riggings.

"Eh, Souryuu-san why are you so proud at telling him your weight?" Hiryuu made a sidelong glance at Souryuu's way.

"Eh?! Ah! Wait no!"

"Oh don't mind, although I look like this I actually do not know any other mass calculations aside from kilograms. So when I heard the mass in _tons_ I just can't imagine how heavy it is. But since you are a carrier I can probably make a general gist of it." I said in a bored look.

Zuikaku made a sigh before making a smirk on her face, she then put a hand beside her mouth as if making a whispering gesture to me.

"If you want me to convert it to kilograms that 16—"

"No!" Souryuu immediately threw a hand on Zuikaku's face, knocking her out.

Souryuu realized what she did and immediately became flustered as she pulled Zuikaku's body outside.

"I-I'll take her to Akashi's shop, Hiryuu talk to him for a bit!"

"Right!" Hiyuu made a thumb's up gesture.

As Souryuu's figure disappeared from view I turned around and saw Hiryuu making a bright smile.

"So, tell me about yourself Ermest-san." She said in English.

Well, Souryuu did say to talk with her before she left. Is there something wrong about talking with these shipgirls? I might dig something that might be worth mentioning back at the tent.

So to continue the conversation I told her about my rank and name once again and what is my job in the 501st Legion, why I was commanding a company composed of 110 soldiers despite being a XO. I told her about my life prior to the blockade which is a normal soldier in the Army as well as a Scouting Ranger during the Muslim Rebellion back in the late 2000's.

"Ehhhh, so you were a revered soldier back then... Did you see a lot of action?" She asked.

"I did have my share of battle experience. My first baptism of fire was during a major operation in Surigao City." I said to her while remembering the events that happened there.

"Do tell I really love action stories you know." She pushed.

"Well, back then I was a squad member of a fireteam named Panthers. Our task was to capture a small bridge overlooking the Banahaw River. Insurgent groups have already taken the bridge and they used small boats to move in artillery pieces."

"So-so, these insurgent groups were armed to the teeth? They were back-funded right?" Hiryuu said in interest as she moved closer to listen to my story. She then paused and immediately pulled a small table from somewhere and grabbed a water jug full of nestea. "While we're at it, let us put some drinks and snacks."

The table was then packed full of biscuits ranging from a green colored one and a flat looking sour bread. I chose to pick a single normal looking biscuit and placed it on my mouth, it was tasty.

"Yeah, according to the DOI the insurgent group named Maus was back-funded by another insurgent group from the middle east. Those artillery pieces though were stolen from a cargo ship passing the Surigao Strait.

"Surigao Strait huh, even back then that place is very problematic. I did not pass there though, Yamashiro wouldn't stop talking about that strait too when she was summoned a few years back." Hiryuu waved her hand side to side.

"The warship wrecks are still there though, they even managed to discover another warship so huge that it carried six batteries!"

"Yeah, that must've been Yamashiro or Fuso's wrecks…anyhow what happened at the bridge?" She asked.

"We landed around nine in the morning, small arms fire were making penetration holes around the chopper and we were forced to make a high elevation jump. But we were able to retake a corner of the bridge with no casualties. The problem though is the other side of the bridge."

"Why-why? What's on the other side of the bridge?"

"Machine gun emplacements, mortar teams, and rocket launchers we were lucky enough they didn't hit us with those things while we approached via chopper. Some of them were even pointing rockets on our positions."

"R-rockets? You can carry those now?!"

"Yes, we do and a country named Russia massed produced them."

I told her about the general layout of the situation and our orders to retake the other side of the bridge. If those artillery pieces were fired who knows what would happen to Surigao City. However during that operation we were not the only ones being sent there to finish the mission.

Another Company was sent on the AM26 Pan-Philippine Highway. The plan was to take the blunt of the attack there while my fire team is tasked on moving on the other side of the bridge to attack the lightly guarded side of the enemy.

The plan immediately became a cluster fuck as soon as the operation started. Out of the nine choppers that were tasked to carry the ten fire teams to the bridge, only six were combat ready while the rest need urgent maintenance.

And the company that was tasked on moving on the Pan-Philippine Highway was met with heavy mortar fire and situated minefields making their advance slow. Dead bodies were being listed every hour. It was up to us to make a quick counterattack now or else we might have to find 150 replacements for that company alone.

Bex, Crist, Holland and I were the first ones to arrive at the other side of the bridge. The other twelve soldiers died before they could even make it to the exposed bridge. Stealing some satchel charges and some rockets we were able to take out four of the artillery pieces. We just need to find a clear landing zone for the rest of the fire teams to land.

And we did have a good place for that. A wide open field around 288 meters from the bridge. Small arms fire were exchange from the small village as well as slipping through their lines just to make a hot insertion beacon.

After placing the beacon heavily armored choppers namely the BRW-100 twin choppers, arrived with the rest of the company in it. Another problem though was the open field. The landing site was around 51,283 square meters, that's almost the same size as a football field. Trees surrounded the landing zone and small arms fire was raining on us every second. But the deployment of the third and fourth Scouting Ranger platoons did not stop.

After re-linking with the rest we were ordered to push west from the landing site. Which was 272 meters from the landing site, our job was to clear any insurgent groups dug deep on a small shoe factory.

Before we could even reach the factory we were rained by small arms fire as well as indirect mortar fire from the insurgent group. Loosing around six men before we reach the outer fence of the small shoe factory, the factory itself was empty. Weapons and clothing were left all over and bodies of some insurgent group were lying on the ground.

Then a radio call came in saying that an American insertion team already cleared the factory before we arrived. It was a good thing, but the feeling of dying without even doing anything was stinging at the back of my mind.

After checking and rechecking the perimeter, the pressured company that was hold up on the highway managed to relinked with us and a small aiding facility was erected for the wounded soldiers. And there were a lot of them.

The next order came a few hours after that, the next job was to silence the long range mortars at the Almont Beach Resort.

We took the trucks that the pressured company came with. Just a small amount of trucks was enough since we were not expecting large resistance. We expected wrongly, they already zeroed in on us and mortar rounds were raining all over our exposed meat ride.

Of the six jeeps that we took only two managed to take cover behind a landfill facing the main building of the beach resort. Machine gun fire pinned us and mortar rounds were closing in to our positions, when suddenly the mortar fire ended.

We were still pinned down at the landfill out of desperation we threw some smokes to the enemy and crawled for about 70 meters to the tree line. It was there that the fighting became intense. We forced our way through the main building and were greeted by a small number of the defenders.

Sitting on the managers room are soldiers of the Ghost Team that America sent in as aid. The mortar teams were already silenced and the inner perimeter of the resort cleared from enemy presence. I did not feel relieved nor was filled with happiness when I realized that the ordeal ended. No, after hearing what that Ghost Team member said to us, none of us ever feel relieved.

 _Thanks for eating the pressure for us; we were able to slip in undetected thanks to your efforts. Next time bring some effective radios alright?_

"White washed, huh?" Hiryuu said while leaning on her hands.

"Yeah, I think. I don't even know what to call it. Was it defiance or something I dunno the turn…..something that correlates with fooled, I don't know."

"Well it's not uncommon to find yourself being used as bait by another team. There's nothing wrong with it, but saying it bluntly in front you was probably pushing it too far."

"I seriously do not know. I may be a man speaking English in front of you but my knowledge in the dictionary is only limited to the things my superiors shouted at me as well as the movie phrases that I constantly heard."

Hiryuu took a biscuit from the tray and placed it in her mouth. She then stared at the opened window of this building. I might call it a canteen or a lunch eating building.

"Though, as long as the mission ended with results or somehow got a successful conclusion those feelings don't matter in the eyes of those in the higher ups." Hiryuu said softly as she stared outside.

Her tone somehow was different from the usual tone that I heard a while ago. Her demeanor too was different. And something else feels off.

"Oh pardon me, talking about the things that already ended made things gloomy. Sorry about that." She said in a cheeky smile.

Her usual tone returned, but her expression was not. She looked, pained…no distant, she looked distant to my eyes.

"I did not expect it to end that way. I was really pumped up to bring up a fight at that war. But just a single battle…a single failure on us part, somehow tilted the tide of that war." She said coldly.

"Hiryuu-san?" I called to her.

"Oh…"

She somehow realized that I was calling her name. She then sprawled across the table and made a sigh. After that a curious expression came on her face, she raised an eyebrow before raising her hand in the air, mimicking a _stop_ gesture.

"Align your hand with mine." She said.

And I followed her request. I raised my dominant hand since she was raising her left hand so that my hand would mirror hers. Slowly I rested my palm on her slender hand.

"Heh, just as I thought. Your hand is bigger compared to mine. It's rough too, you must've been through a lot huh?" she said.

You could say that, since I am 170 centimeters tall, of course my hands would be that long. Hiryuu herself was a bit taller than me but not as tall as Shoukaku, but her hands were a bit smaller compared to mine.

"I've always wanted to touch something way back from that time. Back then I was just a warship carrying personnel, bombs, and planes. Now, they call me a shipgirl, experiencing things like these never gets old."

There were rumors floating around in the Army. Rumors that sounded surreal and others sounding pretty far-fetched. The most farthest-fetched rumor I've ever heard of was about shipgirls retaining memories during the Second World War. The rumor started when a shipgirl named Yukikaze immediately started screaming after seeing her fellow shipgirls, who she was escorting when they sank during battle, walking beside her.

During that war, IJN Destroyer Yukikaze has scuttled a lot of other warships. From the start of the war up until the end of it, I do not know how many she gas scuttled but seeing her expression during her introductory at the Naval Base...she must've scuttled a lot.

This shipgirl in front of me too was no different from that rumor. Hiryuu, was an aircraft carrier that took part in Operation MI or also known as the Battle of Midway. Akagi, Kaga, and Souryuu sank on the initial battle and a day later Hiryuu was the only one left of the carrier task force.

She fought together with some destroyers who were left of that carrier task force. She fought against three American carriers namely USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown. She managed to defend herself on her own but around five or four dive bombers penetrated the defenses and scored a direct hit.

It all ended there though, the rest were just wiki speculations and books published about the war. I do not have the motivation back then to read what happened during the Second World War. So I only had a bit of knowledge here and there, rests are unreliable information I found on the net.

"I've done my part and I regretted the outcome. Maybe this is a sign to make up with my mistakes back then right, Ermest-san?" She said as she looked at me straight in the eye. "You feel it too don't you?"

"Feel what?" I asked.

"The feeling of wanting to return home" She said with a warm smile on her face.

It was at that point that it came to me like a bell. Although it's been bugging me for the past four years it was at this moment that this annoying feeling inside me was screaming in max volume. No matter how many times I occupy myself with hobbies that I haven't done before nor the experiences that I've wanted to do in Japan, this feeling didn't fade away, not a tad bit.

And it's been accumulating as days pass by like a tick of a clock. I knew what it was but it was at this moment that it was shown in front of me clear as day.

"And your face has been showing it all this time you know?" She continued talking.

"W-what do you know?!" I clenched her hand unknowingly while facing her way.

"Of course I know." She casually says with a wink.

With a warm smile she clasps my hand. While resting on the table she spoke in a calmly manner as if she has already recovered from it.

"I was part of the first batch that sank during at war. I held this feeling ever since I've sent my survivors to the destroyers that were close to my proximity."

I became silent as I felt her warm gentle hand. I swallowed back my urge to talk back since it was already futile to make an argument whether she feels the same way or not. Who am I kidding; she is a shipgirl that sank on that war, of course during her capsizing she would've had these feelings of wanting to go home.

When I looked at myself, I also asked the same thing.

"Is my home even there anymore?" I said in a cold tone. "I have a family, a mother, a father, an older sister and a little brother. They are everything to me, I joined the army to protect them from the influences that would harm them in the near future but what am I doing in a land that isn't even my homeland?"

I urged myself to end it there but the words escaped my mouth, how I wished to go home already and ask the people in the village if they are safe, is my family safe?

Due to the strong abyssal miasma that I just heard off, any satellite or any wireless connection are immediately eliminated upon entering the Philippine excursion zone. No information is going in or getting out and the sky is full of abyssal planes that would sometimes swarm into thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

Neither scout plane nor bombers packed with supplies were able to fly above an island country named the Philippines.

"I just wanted to go home and meet them…" I said in a faint voice.

I must've overextended myself because Hiryuu was making a worried expression. She raised her upper body and tilted her head to the side.

"You've finally got it out huh?" She said.

"Huh?"

"I said you finally got it out of you. You know I've been observing you for a while now, since you have a small tent near the base whenever I sortie out I would always see you staring at the vast ocean. You had this look in your face, it almost mimicked a face of a man wanting go back. The same expression I always see on the faces of my sailors during the war." She said with a finger on her cheeks.

She then let out a light giggle before placing my hand on the small table. She then took a small biscuit and placed it on the table. She then took another piece and breaks it into two even pieces.

"How about I tell you a top secret information that would lighten up your mood?" She said making a wide smile.

I immediately nodded at her, she then said 'good-good' before stuffing a biscuit into her mouth.

"We've successfully liberated an island—no, an island country named Taiwan. In the past this island used to be under our jurisdiction but after the war China took it. Anyhow, yesterday Akagi and Kaga's carrier group were tasked to liberate the small islands north of Luzon, I think they were called the Batanes islands but I am not sure. We've managed to grab a foothold island called the Itbayat Island. Unfortunately—"

"What is it?"

"There aren't any Filipino citizens there responding to our hails. The island was barren, there's a large concentration of land based abyssals in the island too. And the Admiralty issued a liberation Operation on that Island in two months if the current supplies allows it."

"Two months?! But that would take long—no, what am I saying, if we do a landing operation of course we will need preparations. That includes making strategies and preparing equipment and supplies."

"Yes and Admiral Goto has already been preparing us shipgirls for the landings two months from now…..is everything alright?"

"Huh? Oh, no it's- it's nothing. I was just surprise that I we can now finally get home to our homeland." I said to her worried face.

Hiryuu leaned closer but I would only lean back. When she was annoyed by it she made pouting expression before she continued explaining about operation.

"Anyhow, the operation is called Operation PL which stands for Philippine Landings. I hope this information would cure the worries that have been acuminating deep inside your heart. However..."

"However?" I asked.

"However, retaking the Kyusu is the top priority right now. Liberating the Philippine isles while be on hold if the Army pushes for the upcoming Kyusu Liberation Operation." Hiryuu added.

Truthfully speaking I cared nothing about the Kyusu Operation. All that I care about is the idea of that the Japanese will be coming to my homeland to liberate it from the abyssals.

With a bright smile I immediately hugged her upper body. I do not know how or why I did it. I probably was overwhelmed by happiness when I heard about a secret intel regarding a landing operation on my country.

I was prepared for a strong beating after I suddenly hugged her, but she didn't. Instead with a sigh she extended her hand and embraced me as well.

"I guess that means yes, I guess." She said.

I immediately pushed back. I don't want her to get the wrong idea with my actions so I immediately made a bow and said sorry.

"No, its okay. Of course you would be overwhelmed when you heard about the information that I just told you. But please don't tell the others okay, and by others I meant the other soldiers in the Army. This is supposed to be top secret operation so any leaks might give the abyssals the needed information to counter the operation." She said in authoritative tone.

"You can count on me. I won't tell anyone about Operation PL. What's with that smug look on your face?" I said to her with a playful salute.

"Hmm? It's nothing really."

What is she—?

Oh, right.

"Since you've given me a highly secretive intel, might as well ask about the payment."

"Oh, please don't make it sound dirty."

"Then what is? What is the payment that I must repay you?"

"Hmm, for starters do you have a phone? Can I request for your phone number?"

I nodded and did just that. I gave her the phone and she took my phone number while making a humming tone. She then raised her head and returned the phone to me.

"How about hanging out near the edges of the Naval Base two weeks from now? I found this cool looking cavern near the sortie area."

"Since my company won't be doing anything, sure I'll come." I said to her with a thumbs up.

"Also bring some drinks, I'll bring the snacks. I'll give a head's up message in the near future." Hiryuu threw a smile before making a dark emptied stare above my head.

It was at that moment that a new shipgirl arrived at the building. She had a long hair wearing white and red clothes. She immediately opened her eyes when she looked at me. No, she had droll dripping out on the corners of her mouth, she isn't going to eat me is she?

And behind her was another shipgirl with a brown hair tied in a side ponytail. She had white and blue clothes and a muneate over them. When she saw me her eyes became daggers stabbing me in the eyes.

"Ah, snacks!" The first girl shouted and ran towards the table where the biscuits are placed on the table.

"Why is there an intruder here? He seems to be casually sitting on the floor. I think I must perform dispensary actions for this." The second girl said coldly as she summoned her bow and arrows.

I still remember the numb feeling that I got when Shoukaku fired an arrow at my forehead. And seeing this shipgirl making a dangerous glare, I was sure that her arrows would definitely penetrate my skull.

"Ah, it's Kaga-san. Sorry Ermest-san. But it looks like you're on your own with this one. Be safe though."

When I heard Hiryuu say that an arrow passed over my face. The tip of the arrow's feathers gently passing over my cheeks. Then a late supersonic boom entered my ears. While almost disorientated I immediately stood up and barrel rolled out of the window.

"Oh you aren't escaping from me."

Immediately as I ran, arrows were slowly finding their mark on me. Some of them were not expanding into a plane and some of them expanding halfway. But one thing's for certain. If I am hit with those angry looking fairies inside that cockpit, I will be sent to the infirmary for at least a long time.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **Update 10/30/18**


	8. 3518'132N 13939'070E

**35°18'13.2"N 139°39'07.0"E**

* * *

 **Two Days Later**

We are currently situated on a small island separate from Yokosuka JSDF office; my company was separated from the Japanese civilians on mainland Yokosuka Harbor together with Admiral Goto's shipgirl as well as the personnel that are under him. We set up camp a few meters into the forest since the open fields near the Naval Base were packed full of planes and choppers. Not so long ago there wasn't even an airfield there but somehow they manage to build one.

The 501st wasn't the only stationed here though. Some battalions and sometimes a full fledged division would be stationed here too, making the whole island feeling cramped.

For this month though, the only ones stationed here were the 203rd Paratrooper Battalion, 111th Mechanized Battalion and lastly us the 501st Expeditionary Legionaries.

That's a total of over 5000+ soldiers from our Division alone and if you add the other battalions from JGSDF the total population would increase drastically. How did this small island fit those sheer numbers? Oh right, it could not!

It was already afternoon when Crisanto decided to rally up the remaining soldiers of the division. The location was inside a small conference building near the power plant.

"Looks like there are only 5034 soldiers listed here… doesn't matter now, let's start the meeting anyway." He said.

I was wondering when we will receive our mobilization order. We've been posted here for two months now and the bloody battle on the south was still fresh in our minds.

"If two months ago we were ordered to clog a hole on a wall, one week from now we will be ordered to penetrate abyssal territory." Commander Crisanto announced loudly.

There were outbursts of complains and such about penetrating abyssal territory. After all how could 5000 soldiers do to a thousand mile long southern continent of Japan?

"Settle down! We aren't the spearhead of this operation." Commander Crisanto added.

"Then why are we mobilized? I could just stay here and talk to the beautiful navy nurses here all day!" A man complained amidst the crowd.

"Hear! Hear!" The crowed went wild by that remark.

Crisanto pinched the bridge of his nose as he listen to the other complains that he is hearing. Having had enough he slams his hand on the map projected by a machine.

"Tumahik kayo! Have you forgotten that we are just freeloaders in this country?! If we don't do our part in this war we will be left in the streets to die or worst killed by firing squad!" He yelled giving us his signature glare that would give even the most veteran soldiers in the group to whimper.

There has been a rumor floating around in the army. It was about a company that refused to hold a beachhead on the northern isles of Japan. A month later the abyssals arrived at that exposed beached head and attacked a small town of Eromomisaki. And you guessed it they murdered everyone.

Furious, the Emperor of Japan ordered the prime minister who then ordered the military police to execute every single soldier in that company. Up until this day there is still a debate whether this rumor is true or not and the wary expressions of my fellow countrymen was enough to make a conclusion that they do not want to be executed in a foreign country.

"Okay let me get this straight our job is to make a foothold here, in Tachinourakaigan which is 4.9 kilometers from the bridge. If we retake that harbor, the shipgirls that will be able assist us in this operation will be able to make use of the docks, supplies will be brought in by boat since bringing them in by air is risky due to the heavy presence of Abyssal Bearcats. If we are successful in holding this dock we'll be able to make a foothold for future operations to liberate the southern prefectures of: Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and lastly Kagoshima."

Commander Crisanto changed the map projector into a more strategic plan of the operation. Oh, the name of the operation is Operation Overlord for some reason. There are five Armies listed on the participants list and the 501st is placed under the commands of General Minato Kagahama. He also commanded ten infantry divisions and six armored divisions as well.

"Also there have been reports sent by some shipgirl pilots that a miniature abyssal airfield was erected here which is only a kilometer away from the harbor. That is our second objective, retaking the airfield." Commander Crisanto pressed the next button on the laptop.

Displayed on the slide is a hand drawn illustration of the miniature airfield that the shipgirl pilots were able to scout. However—

"Right if any one of you introverts thought that the drawing looked like a kid's imaginary drawing then please approach Admiral Goto immediately for _a special lecture_ since the one who drew this was an ace _fairy_ pilot of a shipgirl named Hiryuu." Commander Crisanto added as a series of laughter echoed across the conference room.

If we are talking about an ace pilot that served on Hiryuu's air group then it must be Joichi Tomonaga.

The smile Hiryuu gave me yesterday was still fresh in my mind and whenever I start picturing it my heart would slowly beat wildly.

"Oi, Ermest. Bakit ka naka ngiti diyan? Makinig ka nga sa meeting." Galius who was sitting right next to me gave me an elbow in the gut that caught me off guard.

"I ain't grinning! Leave me alone, I'm listening." I hissed backed at him.

Galius dodged my elbow counterattack and immediately turned his attention to the projector. How many seconds have I wasted interacting with this idiot?

"Since we only have a total of 3000 soldiers for active duty and the rest are on support duty, I will have to make a total restructure of the current companies as of today. The company names will still stay the same though. I will be just filling in the gaps that we are currently having on every company list."

True, during the defensive battle on the south, Una Company lost around 84 soldiers since my company defended the mountain overlooking the bridge. A lot of the enemy artillery fire rained on us since my company at that time had set up positions facing the bridge.

A large percentage of the casualties of that battle came from my company and the rest were tallied from other companies.

"Companies Una, Dragon, Lion, Air, River, Easy, and Ocean will be in charge for clearing the Eastern harbor while the uncalled companies will be responsible for clearing the Western Harbor. We will be going in by boat so expect some heavy resistance when we make our landings."

So that was reason why there is a large concentration of transport ships lined along on the harbor. A marine guard in the naval base said that they will be using those to carry equipment but they must've done that to avoid any leakage until initial meetings.

"Oh, lastly we won't be landing undefended. Shipgirls from the 2nd Fleet Detachment is also coming with us during the landings." Commander Crisanto added.

Out of curiosity I raised my hand. Commander Crisanto noticed it and threw an index finger at me. I stood up and gave him my question.

"So which shipgirl will be coming with us during the landing mission?"

"I sense ulterior motives behind that question but I will answer that question for you, Fuck-san." Commander Crisanto said in a calm tone…which pissed me off.

The room immediately was surrounded with laughter. To be honest I wasn't hurt by the slightest, not because I was called Fuck-san in front of my fellow countrymen but because I know that they too wanted to know which shipgirl will be escorting us as well.

"There are only nine shipgirls in the list. Shipgirls like CVL Chitose and CVL Chiyoda, CA's Kako and Furutaka, four DD's and a single CL."

"So which destroyers are these this time?" A man asked while I sat back on my chair.

"That would be the 2nd Destroyer Division...The _fuck-off_ division." Commander Cristano said

The groans of my fellow countryman echoed inside the conference room. Well it is understandable, that destroyer division was given that nickname because of the notoriety of the shipgirls that are in that Division. Like the clumsy Murasame, the annoying Yuudachi, or the boastful Harusame. According to the Marines that were with those shipgirls during an operation, those four almost sank a transport ship because they were fighting over who should be protecting the said transport ship.

"OI! Cover those groans the meeting is not yet over!" Commander Crisanto shouted.

I gaze over Galius' unfazed expression, he probably does not harbor any worries on the 2nd Destroyer Division like me but when a light cruiser that goes with a name of Yuubari was said again a wide smirk immediately covered his unfazed expression.

"God, I hope you could see the dangerous smile this man is making." I whispered to myself.

Then the cutely drawn illustration of the miniature airfield was displayed yet again but this time arrows and guidelines were written all over it.

"Just as the _fairy_ said there are land based walkers guarding the outer perimeter of the airfield. So bringing AT-600 SFW is a necessity, also a humanoid abyssal was spotted here which is represented with a question mark. The fairy did not provide additional information about this humanoid abyssal so companies Una, Dragon and River will be in charge for gathering information about it."

A total of nine different arrows were drawn. Each arrow represented a company and the unfortunate companies that were chosen to deal with the unknown abyssal were mine, Bex, and Galius' companies.

When I turn my gaze towards them I saw Bex resting both of his hands on his head and Galius making a complicated expression.

"The newly invented AT-200's and AT-600's SFW will be issued on the three said companies first since they will be the spearhead companies for this operation. Ermest, Bex and Galius, I will be expecting good results from you three." He slammed the last nail to the coffin.

So it will be my company that's going to be eating all the attention again, this time with some sidekicks and armed with black sticks?

A while ago an engineer from Russia was able to reach the northern harbors of Japan with it the newly invented AT-200's and a blueprint of an AT-600. These are the so called anti-abyssal shoulder fired weapons, pretty much a bazooka that penetrates land based abyssal armor.

It was very effective even on long range. With a built-in tracking system, precision targeting is almost dangerously on point. Just point the barrel to the abyssal and the built-in targeting system will do the rest. They are only effective on lightly armored targets like the Shi-type abyssal; single headed-one cannon-on the mouth-walker for example.

However these SFW's can only be fired once which is a pain in the ass if we found ourselves being surrounded by multiple LBA's. Also, all of these weapons are being manufactured in Russia and protecting the cargo routes has been the shipgirls' job for a while now.

And because of that problem the Japanese Navy could only mobilize small amounts of shipgirls during operations hence only nine shipgirls out of the hundreds summon could be sortied.

When you think about it, all of Russia's inventions gave birth to the Southern Liberation Plan. The question now, who will supplement the empty slots on my company? When you think about it the Captain slot is empty as well.

"I'll be announcing the new captains for those companies that do not have one. All soldiers must go to the armory for resupply and rearmament today. We need those SFW's distributed evenly among us. And with that, this concludes our meeting, Dismissed." Commander Crisanto ended the meeting with that remark.

With that said all of us immediately stood up and exit the building without paying attention to the front. When suddenly an announcement came.

"Fustaku, Skullan, Guevara, and Calderon. Meet me in the office in two hours from now. I want the four of you to take these as well. These are the infield orders that the higher brass passed onto me. I want you four to debrief your soldiers regarding these _special_ orders, dismissed."

With that said we approached Commander Crisanto and took the _orders_ that he left on a small table.

The _orders_ that I received was written in bulk, more like the documents that I delivered on Admiral Goto's office. It was just not me however even Skullan, Galius, and Bex had thick documents as well.

Out of curiosity I turn towards them and asked them about the contents of their documents.

"Hmm, mine looks like destroying the harbor cranes. More like destroying the harbor equipment to be specific. What about yours, Galius?" Skullan said in a low tone.

"Mine looks like putting up a perimeter defense on the quarry near the harbor. What about yours, Bex?"

"Cleaning the airfield, dammit after we retake that airfield it will be my job filling in the craters and fixing the destroyed hangars, if there is any left after the bombings." Bex rested a hand on his forehead after letting out a deep sigh.

Then all three of them turned their attention towards me. I nodded and flipped the cover of the document on my hand and scanned the orders written in bold text.

"Looking after the shipgirls in the harbor, damn this is going to be annoying…" I hissed.

There was this ominous silence engulfing us. All three of them had their eyes cold and empty. Then all three of them nodded in unison then presented their documents towards me.

"Please exchange with my orders!" They shouted.

"What?! No, these are my special orders!" I rebuked.

But they did not stop there. Bex who was my closest friend grabbed my hand and pressed a ten thousand yen on my palm.

"You can have my pay check. Just give me the dammed documents!"

"No, you can have my hidden stash. There are blondes, red heads, and big tits, all of the things that you wanted!" Skullan proposed.

"Everything?" I asked back.

"Yes everything, just give me your documents." Skullan said in tempting voice.

"No-no, here. This is the key to my chopper, you can pilot it right? You can have it!" Galius said in English for the first time.

I fell silent for a while. Their offers were good but then a small sentence could be seen written just below the bold texts. It was written in italic so I was having a hard time reading it.

 _Strict orders from Admiral Goto. These orders must be followed strictly and failing to do so, the consequence is a quick trip to the firing range to be shot by a firing squad. Also, if the soldier described in detail on the second page looks different upon duty the person written on the paper will be shot as well as the unknown perpetrator who arrived on duty._

I could feel my body stiffening and my legs faintly shaking. When I showed it to the other three NCO's their expressions paled and Galius was making a complicated expression that I cannot describe in detail.

"Nope" Skullan immediately walked toward the exit. "I want to go home, not die on a foreign country. You can eat your special orders good bye!"

"I think the kitchen needs me, soldiers need to eat four times a day after all." Bex turned around and placed his documents on his underarm.

All that's left was Galius who was still making complicated expression. He was muttering as well and it sounds like a language that I didn't hear before.

"I-I!"

I waited for his answer. I already had mine which is accepting the terms of my orders and not giving them to another.

"I-If you please, will you let me talk to Yuubari once in a while?" He asked with a stutter.

A furrowed brow immediately emerged on of my face, I heard it correctly but the thought behind it made me furrow my eyebrows.

"What are your ulterior motives?" I asked in a deadpan expression.

"N-nothing, I just want to talk with her normally you know?!" He said.

"No, you are speaking in English and I don't trust you when you are speaking in English. Spill it out already."

Galius was hesitant to answer, I could see sweat bud appearing on the side of his temples and his eyes unable to find a proper direction to look at.

"G-gusto ko siya. I just want to know her more, you know?"

"Ah."

So care to explain what, when, and where did you develop these idiotic feelings? Either way I still accepted his proposal.

"Fine, I'll do what I can."

After all, who knows what this guy would do to me if I refuse. I've known Galius for four years and that is not enough to make me say that I knew him and could see through him like a sheet of paper.

"If we make out alive that is. Just do your job as a NCO for now, I'll do the rest."

When he heard that a smile emerged from his face, he then rested a hand on my shoulders and walked towards the exit.

"Of course you would. You are the first soldier I ever saw being fired by arrows from a shipgirl. You must've had hidden powers behind that boring face of yours." He said in a mocking tone.

Oh right, after I ran out of the Carrier Special Dorms, Kaga-san still ran after me even though I was already out of the Naval Base and everyone including my fellow countrymen saw how Kaga-san beat the shit out of me.

 **~o~**

As a soldier I still have a job to do, and one of those said jobs is following a simple order called rearming and restocking. Unfortunately the armory is located on the opposite side of the Carrier Special Dorms' shooting range. A long line of soldiers under the scourging sun could be seen but the lined soldiers did not care about the heat.

That is because they are busy staring at Souryuu's chest bouncing to the side faintly as she fired another arrow to a stationary target.

With an elegant adjustment of her arrow she slowly closed one eye and released the stressed sting of the bow. Then a supersonic boom followed behind the arrow.

Six fighters emerged out of that single arrow and they successfully destroyed the target into smithereens. Souryuu then made a sigh before wiping a sweat on her temple with a towel.

I was standing among the soldiers that were lined at the opposite side. The shooting range was right beside the line and if she misses she would've hit one of us. Mix expressions of satisfaction and nervousness could be seen on the faces of my fellow countrymen.

"Ah, Ermest-san!" She shouted….

I was hesitant to raise my hand since the soldiers beside me were throwing daggers with their gazes towards me. Then Souryuu called me again, this time I was prompted to raise my hand so that she would stop calling my name.

"Fuck-san"

"Fuck-san"

"Fuck-san"

"Fuck-san"

"Living to your name huh, Fuck-san?" A soldier with a bigger build than me spoke with a displeased tone

The cycle continued until I reached the outer roof of the armory. Complaining voices about the heat as well as the faint howls of my nickname were mixing together inside the armory.

Working in front of the lined men are two shipgirls wearing a black cargo suit, one had a pink hair and the other had greenish-gray hair. Both of them were sweating heavily and the more they sweat the dirtier the faces of my fellow countrymen became.

I was starting to worry about the external view of the Japanese military towards us. Since most of my fellow countrymen looked more like perverted soldiers rather than a battle hardened Infantry Division.

When it was finally my turn to present my identification card on the counter, the pink haired woman named Akashi smiled and pulled one AT-200 and another piece of AT-600 under the counter.

"Admiral Goto told me to give you one set of each. Since most of the normal infantrymen were given only a single piece of AT-200 and NCO's a piece of AT-600, he requested that I make a compromise and give you one piece of each." She said while writing on a small piece of paper.

"I-is that so? He didn't pull any strings behind me did he?" I asked.

"Of course not, he just approached me and asked. He didn't approach the government or anything." She replied.

That sentence alone gave me chills behind my spine. Admiral Goto truly is a feared man in the Navy. He had complete control of the shipgirls and every shipgirl would immediately comply whenever he asks for a personal favor.

I wonder if he ever had the urges to make a coup in this country now that he had the arsenal to do it. A very scary thought indeed—

"Also" The assistant named Yuubari come out from the storage room and placed a box of AT-600's on ground. "Please give this to Commander Crisanto. Prime Minister Shinto Abe wanted to personally give this to him but he had a strict schedule."

Yuubari placed a rectangular box on the table. I was tempted to open it but the words 'Do not open' were written all over it so I refrained.

"Okay, I'll deliver this after I finished debriefing my men." I said.

"Okay." Yuubari nodded before shouting "Next" behind the counter.

I grabbed the shoulder straps of the SFW's and carried them. Placed under my armpit is the rectangular box that Yuubari wanted me to deliver to Crisanto. Since when did I become a delivery man in this island?

"Ermest-san!"

Then an echoing call came to my ears. I turned my head to the side and saw a silver haired woman running towards my position. It was Shoukaku, the first ship of the Shoukaku-class carrier. She was wearing her usual white miko outfit but on her chest is a half damaged metal muneate.

"Ah, Shoukaku" I said in a faint tone.

When she was a few feet away from me she suddenly tripped into something and accidentally pushed me to the ground. I fell on my back and the rectangular box that was under my armpit made a cracking sound.

I felt nauseous as I rubbed the back of my head. I raised my body and saw Shoukaku being helped by some soldiers that I _knew_ while she puff off the dust on her white miko outfit.

"Itai-itai, ah! Ermest-san, are you okay?!" She shouted in English.

She ran towards me and crouched down. She had this worried expression on her face and she was frantically moving her hands to the air for some reason.

"Are you hurt? Did I hit anything wrong on your body? Are you bleeding?! Damn this misfortune of mine." She swore, throwing her gaze away from mine.

"You don't have to worry that much. It wasn't like I was _pushed by a dump truck_ or anything. Really it's fine, so please calm down." I replied casually wiping the bleeding on my nose with my sleeve.

That was just a lie though, what would you think would happen if a 25,000 ton carrier push you to the ground? I was just lucky enough that I purposely jumped back before she could even punch me to the ground.

Basically I injured myself, and I was regretting it.

Why you ask? Because the rectangular box that I should be delivering to Crisanto had a crack on it. Who knows what's inside this thing?!

I grabbed the box and stroke my hand on the surface, the crack did not penetrate deep it was just a surface scratch. As I lay out a sigh of relief, I turned my gaze and saw Shoukaku still making a worried expression.

"Really, why are you looking worried like that? It's not like I am dead you know?"

"W-well, I did fire an arrow on your head on our first meeting. Now, I accidentally pushed you to the ground on our second meeting. Really, please forgive me." She bowed.

I made a faint smile as I watch her making a…well how should I say this _cute expression?_ I rested my hand on her shoulder and spoke on a soft tone.

"Rest assured nothing is broken within my body. As you can see, I can still speak and move my body right?"

"I did not fracture a bone or anything right?"

"No you didn't, stop worrying like that. Worrying too much and you'll accelerate the aging process." I said trying to make light of the issue.

"But that is just a fallacy. Akashi told me that we shipgirls don't get old."

"Really now? Well that's unfortunate."

Shoukaku furrowed an eyebrow as she listened to my words.

"Why is that?" she asked

"Because I am the only one aging here, I won't be able to see an old-freckled Shoukaku-nee san." I answered with a laugh at the end.

Immediately Shoukaku's expression softens, she then stood up and presented a hand. I took that as a sign of helping me get up. I rested my hand on hers and she immediately pulled, raising my body almost instantaneously.

"If you put more strength on that one, you would've accidentally thrown me on the other side."

"I can control my strength you know? I will do my best not to do unnecessary collateral damage on you."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a building or something. Anyway, thanks for helping me up." I said as I grabbed the two SFW's resting on the ground.

Shoukaku tilted her head as she observed the SFW's hanging on my hand.

"Are those the newly built anti-abyssal rocket launchers that Akashi was talking about?"

"Don't know about the Akashi part, but yes these are the newly built _land based anti-abyssal rocket launchers_. These are powerful enough to penetrate abyssal walkers but not powerful enough to penetrate sea based abyssal armor." I clarified.

"Ehh, is that so? Would you mind?" She said while she pointed an index finger at the rocket launchers hanging on my hand.

"What?"

"C-can I hold one just for a second? Akashi wouldn't let me touch them because I might accidentally fire one, but I won't, I promise!" Shoukaku held both of her hands together like a woman praying to a god. I was hesitant but then I remembered about the safety mechanism on the rockets itself so I gave her the AT-600.

She looked happy when she received it, she immediately rested it on her shoulders and playfully made a ready to fire position while she leaned on the optics to aim. When I immediately saw her do that my body stiffens regretting the decision that I made.

"Alright time's up! I still don't trust you with those things." I said.

"Ahh, wait-wait!" She wailed a bit as I pulled the rocket from the side.

As I turn off the optics on the rocket launcher Shoukaku gave me a side along glance before making dissatisfied pout.

"You meanie, you acted like Akashi just now."

"Come one, I was just worried." I said while swinging the rocket launchers on my back.

The two SFW's were not that heavy despite its heavy looking features. It only weighs five kilograms each, and the Russian scientist wouldn't reveal the materials used to make these rockets.

"So you wanted something, Shoukaku?" I asked.

"Oh about that, I am here to apologize about the things Zuikaku did before I left for a sudden sortie yesterday. Hiryuu and Souryuu already filled me with the details and I will surely give Zuikaku a proper lecture about it."

"You don't have to be that harsh on your sister you know?"

Shoukaku had a heavy look on her face as she faced the shooting range. Standing on the platform is her sister Zuikaku wearing a bluish gray miko outfit. It resembled her former camouflage that she used at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Releasing a stressed string with her dominant hand a white feathered arrow entered supersonic speeds and six planes attacked a stationary target.

"She is the only one I have, I must be a proper older sister for her." She said in a calm tone as she stared at Zuikaku's figure.

There are only two ships built in the Shoukaku-class carrier design back in the Second World War. That's Shoukaku and Zuikaku, together they make up the 5th Carrier Division. Shoukaku only had Zuikaku in this world and for her, as an older sister, she is the only thing that matter to her the most.

"I won't be there by her side all the time. The battlegrounds are expanding and a new sector has been cleared, a few more and we will be able to make a foothold in Hawaii." She said softly. "I won't be able to protect her all the time, so—"

"You want to do anything to for her?" I cut her off.

"Yes, even if it sounds selfish."

"Well you do have the rights to be selfish, after all she is the only one that you could call a family. You only have her, when the other shipgirls had multiple sister ships on the same ship class and others not even fortunate enough to have a sister." I said softly as I walked under the scourging heat of the sun.

Shoukaku walked beside me. She had both of her hands hidden behind her back and she made a light sigh as she gazes away from the shooting range.

"Really, am I that easy to read?" She asked.

"No, actually I just read too much light novels that I already got the gist what you were about to say. I just wanted to sound cool in front of you."

"So you were just showing off in front of me who was serious a while—"

"Look the point is" I stopped from my tracks and tilted my head slightly. "Don't worry too much on the things that aren't even worth bothering."

Shoukaku was confused at first, and then she placed a hand on her chin and made a faint nod.

"What are you talking about? Worrying about my sister's safety is unimportant?"

"That is just absurd when you put it that way. Look, Zuikaku isn't that hopeless of a sister you think she is. She can handle herself just as fine as the other shipgirls that were summoned. She is a battle hardened shipgirl that knows how to fight an abyssal; you don't have to worry that much for her, more importantly." I paused as I walked in front of her. "You should stop being reckless during your sorties, being reckless would only mean an easy route to the depths of the sea. You should worry about yourself more than worrying about your sister."

Shoukaku widened her eyes as she heard my words. She then made a downcast expression to the side and bit the lower part of her lips.

"You knew?" she asked.

"What, about you receiving a heavy damage during a cleanup sortie near Taiwan? Yep, I knew." I said. "On how you almost sank because you overextended yourself from the other shipgirls? Yes, the marine guards won't shut up about it." I continued.

Shoukaku furrowed her eyebrows as she discovered that I learned about the failed clean up sortie that she took part with. Just as I said, the sortie ended in a disaster with over four transport ships destroyed and one shipgirl heavily damaged. It was just a miracle that they were not ambushed on the way back.

"I must've looked pathetic." She said softly.

"You look like an idiotic older sister that's obsessed with her little sister. Yoh! Snap out of it, you'll look like a siscon if you keep this up." I made a clicking sound with my fingers.

"Yo-you even knew about that?" She asked with a beet red blushed expression.

"Just as I said, I've read too much light novels that I already knew the gist of it on where this is going." I said as I walked ahead of her. "People and shipgirls alike have stupid reasons that force them to do something stupid. I hope you learn something about our nonsensical conversation."

I left her with that sentence. On the way back, Bex somehow got hold on a small military jeep that he borrowed somewhere and saw my interactions with Shoukaku.

With a grin on his face he said "Fuck-san, would you like to have a ride with me?"

I replied with an "I am holding two rocket launchers here, do you want me to fire one at you?"

Bex hurriedly raised his hand and apologized. But that doesn't mean that I refused his proposal about having a free ride. The isolated island is a bit large after all and walking around under the scourging heat would just tire me out.

"So here's the new list of the replacements that will be filling up the gaps of your company." Bex gave me a piece of paper while facing the road.

"And where did you get this?" I asked.

"Near the tent where most of our guys have set up..." He replied.

I took the paper and read the names of the soldiers on list. A total of 110 men, that's around two to eight new formed platoons.

"Also, since most of the soldiers of the Una Company really wanted a new Captain so yours truly chose a new man for the job."

"In short—"

"In short, you've been demoted, 2nd Lieutenant."

* * *

 **Updated 10-30-2018**


	9. Una Company

**Una Company**

* * *

I fucked up, I really fucked up. I might be even living to my name as Fucked up-san already. Dammit how did this happen, for four years I've been the first lieutenant of the company but now I've demoted into a mere 2nd Lieutenant?!

Dammit, that means I could only lead a mere single platoon rather than the whole company. This worries me not because I lost my job as the commanding officer of the company but because I do not know who the newly promoted Captain is.

The newly appointmented man could be an idiot, he could be full of his ego, and he could be a man who is just a plain medal monger or something. I do not trust anyone who I do not knew personally.

As I waited for my free ride to end, I watched the tent of the Una Company devoid of any soldiers. As Bex made a left U-turn, I saw 46 soldiers in attention while a man wearing a field green camo uniform walked back and forth in front of them.

I told Bex to park near the group before jumping off from the jeep that he got somewhere.

"Oi, don't be too harsh to your new commanding officer got it?!" He shouted as I walked towards the man in front of my soldiers.

The man had slanted eyes and had a pale looking skin. He was clearly different from the soldiers that I knew that were unfortunate enough to be stuck here in this country. He was also tall and was mumbling something that I do not understand.

As I approached him I gave him a salute before approaching closer to him. He saluted back and then spoke.

How I wished the guy spoke Filipino like every other soldier in the 501st could. But as it turns out the man was Japanese.

"Ah, Lieutenant you have arrived. I was just lining up the troops before I reorganize the company that pleases the current tactics of the JSGDF." The man said in English.

He might be speaking English but the accent was clearly Japanese. I turned my gaze towards my fellow countrymen and saw them making smirk expressions. It pisses me off, being formal to the unknown officer like I always do before the first captain of this Company died from an artillery shell.

"Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku, sir." I saluted back.

"Captain Murakami Katsumi, I will be your new commanding officer of the Una Company. Nice to be working with you, Lieutenant." He said while making a salute.

My fellow company mates were silently chuckling as I interact with the new Captain. It really pisses me off, I will get my revenge after this but first an important matter must be addressed.

"So, who will be the new XO sir? If I am demoted, the XO slot will be empty as well."

"Oh there is no need for that."

"What do you mean sir, if you die in the field then who will lead the company?"

"There are no talks of me dying in the field of battle, LT. I've been posted in the Northern Army for a long time of course I could manage."

Basically he hasn't been involved in any major abyssal related battles. Basically a green commanding officer… Dammit, just my luck.

"Is that so? Then where will you be putting me sir?" I asked.

Captain Murakami pulled a paper from his vest. The words were written in Japanese so I cannot understand it. His eyes were moving so he must be scanning at the contents.

"Nothing, your name is not listed here." He said.

"Y-you must've been mistaken Captain. Please scan the contents again." I urged him.

But he only turned his head. How can this be? I've been in this company for over four years and he is saying that I do not have a place here? This is absurd, then where will I be posted.

"T-then where am I posted?"

"It didn't say here. But rest assured LT, I'll take care of your company for now. Now let me get back to my men and debrief them about the operation that they will be taking part in for the next few weeks." Captain Murakami saluted.

He then rallied up the men and ordered them to gather at the Company tent. As I stood there a soldier came to me and pointed at the air.

"If you still do not know where you will be posted how about asking the Red Bricks and ask where you should report in."

That man was Cpl. Ervin Montebon, he belongs in the First Platoon together with other five soldiers that I knew as well. He saluted at me and then followed his fellow company men towards the tent.

Then what about my belongings?

Dammit.

Unable to do anything, I just did what he told me and visited the Red Bricks or in formal words, JSDF headquarters. The JSDF headquarters itself was erected near the airfield so there was no problem asking for anyone for directions. And I knew a man who should be able to help me in this dire situation.

As I saluted at the door guards a man came to me and asked my name and rank. I recited it to him before letting me enter. I walked along the busy corridor, female soldiers and male soldiers were walking around in busy pace, they moved around passing documents that who knows what.

My destination is the expeditionary department that have been formed four years prior of the blockade. I opened the door and saw a man wearing a green officer's uniform writing something on a piece of paper.

"Commander, you have a package." I said to him.

"Since when did you become a delivery man, Ermest?" He said as he rested the pen on the table.

He then stood up and grabbed the rectangular box that Yuubari wanted to be delivered. He discovered the scratch and then let out a sigh. Inside the box were a badge and two papers folded into four columns. He then let out another sigh again, since when did Crisanto become a sighful man?

"You idiot, this isn't supposed to be mine this is supposed to be yours."

"What?"

Crisanto pulled a folded paper from the box and showed the address. And yes my name was written there and the rank as well. Yuubari, I will get you for this.

"Pardon me, but it was Yuubari who said that this box should be delivered to you. Then if you don't mind, would you let me have the box?"

"There is no reason for me to keep this." He said and then gave me the box.

I flipped open the first paper and read the contents inside. It was an introductory letter and it was written in English as well. As I continued scanning at the end of the paper I discovered where I was going to be posted.

"Dammit it's just the same company with me leading a platoon, figures."

So in the end, I was demoted but not transferred to a different company. Same company, same people, same soldiers to spend time with and the same stupid people who kept pissing me off while talking with their new commanding officer.

You know, I really think that they took part in this. Really, I treated them right. I did not order them to do something that would endanger them so why am I demoted?

Oh—

Right—

Last month I didn't accept their permissions to roam around Yokosuka, when there was a yearly festival being held in the city. But Crisanto ordered me not to accept your permissions so why am I the only one being shunned?!

I shrugged off my shoulders as I realized that there are actually four papers inside the rectangular box. The first one was about the notice that I was being demoted as the commanding officer of the Una Company.

The second one was about the new platoon that I will be handling. There are 15 soldiers listed and if I were to divide them according to modern squadron composition which is: One squad leader, two riflemen, one machine gunner, and an auxiliary man, that would be three squadrons in total.

Their ranks and equipment distribution was listed as well. At the bottom part of the second letter is a sketched map of our platoon quarters which is unpleasantly placed inside restricted zone of the naval base.

The third letter is about the reason why I was demoted. Really, you guys took a single page just to explain to me why I was demoted and my platoon quarters were placed near the Naval base? No wait, not near the Naval Base but actually inside the naval base, inside the fence!

Dod you know how bad that sounds? Not only the platoon was named Special Detachment Platoon for some unknown reasons, our mission is to actually guard the Naval Base and support the naval personnel on maintenance and other things!

Lastly, there is this problem girl that wouldn't shut up when nighttime arrives. Jesus she kept screaming in Japanese at the middle of the night, doing naval maneuvers and pointing the searchlight all over the place. The carnage would end when the sun finally had enough and rose up from the horizon to shut this girl out. And now you are saying that we have to sleep inside the Naval Base where this problem girl resides?!

Dammit bantering about it in my head is hurting my sense of thinking. Anyway, that is the content inside the third letter now lastly the forth letter.

"Care to explain why we are listed as experimental soldiers that will be sortied during the early phases of Southern Island's Liberation Operation?" I said blankly towards Crisanto.

With a shrug Crisanto leaned back on his chair and gave me a tired look. Oh don't give me that look, if it takes me a day to banter in front of your exasperated tired expression I would gladly do it.

"Just as it says, you are unfortunately selected as an experimental platoon leader that will take part in the crucial liberation of the southern continent. There are no hidden meanings or any hidden gimmicks that will be thrown over the table."

"Don't repeat what the letter has already told. I want you to explain it properly to me because I am having troubling understanding the term being used here. Clearly there has to be someone pulling things behind backdrop."

Crisanto pulled something underneath his table. It was a single long bond paper, in it are schematic diagrams about something and most of the letters used were kanji so don't ask me what was being shown there.

"These are the psychological graphs of the shipgirls currently being station in this Naval Base. As of now there are currently 444 shipgirls summoned and for the past four years the Japanese Government has been observing their behaviors directly from the eyes of the Combined Fleet Admiral, Arimoto Goto."

Thank you for explaining it to us, Commander Crisanto. Cleary there must be more additional information that you wanted to share to us.

"For the past four years, every shipgirl have been getting a drastic decrease in moral and combat effectiveness. When the Japanese Government noticed the trend they immediately called Admiral Goto to do something about it."

"And let me guess it was Admiral Goto's proposal that was accepted during the grand meeting?" I said with a lethargic look towards the paper on my hand.

"Yes, well not technically, it was more like a shipgirl majority mass survey that Admiral Goto proposed and the results were staggering."

For a second there I really thought that Admiral Goto had a hidden grudge on me. It must've been about the tea that I refused to drink.

"Majority of the shipgirls wanted ice cream."

"What?"

"That was not all however. They also wanted shore leaves like most of the marine guards are receiving."

Good thing the second reason was understandable. Seriously, if they really want ice cream they could just order those marine guards. Do they really have to ask permission from the admiral? Oh right, these shipgirls were born during the First and Second World Wars, of course they would formally ask permission from their commanding officers.

"After much debate, Admiral Goto's second proposal which is the integration of a special unit attached with the shipgirls during major operations to increase moral was accepted."

"I knew Admiral Goto have had pulled the strings behind the backdrop."

So in the end it was still the admiral's fault after all. Dammit, so that means it was because of his proposal that I was demoted into a second lieutenant?!

"Working together with shipgirls, you've got to be kidding me." I loudly muttered as I return the bond paper to Crisanto.

"Just so you know, you aren't the only ones selected for this experiment. Small units from the Navy, and Air Force were also chosen. So if you want to talk with other unfortunate soldiers that were included for this experiment then you have another batch of soldiers for that." Crisanto placed the long bond paper underneath a large book.

Should I be happy that we aren't the only military branch selected for this pointless experiment or not?

Having received the things that Crisanto could only tell me because of the annoying classified information firewall, I saluted at him before exiting his office. Unbeknownst to me, he said something before I closed the door.

"Well that's half of the original plans."


	10. ExperimentalDisatisfucktion

**Experimental; Disatisfucktion**

* * *

The room was utter garbage beyond belief. Is this how the navy treated its soldiers who are working in the Army? Or is this the treatment they gave you when you are a 2nd Lieutenant?

Either way the platoon quarters could sustain 15 soldiers in total which is okay. What bothers me was the noisy floor and the utter disgusting webbings on the ceiling. This should be a problem that must be addressed immediately.

After convincing myself that the room was acceptable I grabbed the second paper and read the names of the soldiers that are under my command. Almost all of them were part of Una Company and I knew all of them. The problem was the three sergeants that were included in the list. These three sergeants are part of Bex's Company, Dragon.

Dragon Company is known for their delinquent officers and problematic subordinates. I still wonder how Bex could handle these soldiers, but either way these three are still my subordinates I must tailor them to my preferences.

I closed the door of the platoon quarters and my eye caught something written on the door. The front label had a single bold text on it which is Storage. It is not very convincing for me that we were given a proper room to sleep on that had the words storage in it.

With an audible sigh, I walked along the hallway that leads to the building's entrance. The building that we were stationed on was the Shipgirl Dormitory Building that all of the shipgirls are currently living. It was fortunate for me that all of the 444 shipgirls that were summoned are all sortied across the Japanese Coast and Yellow sea.

Walking on the empty dormitory building surely felt eerie when you think about it. The things I could hear are the echoing sounds of my boots hitting the floor and the constant howls of the sea wind.

According to the map displayed on my tablet this dormitory has seven floors. The first floor has a sortie verification room and a standby room. The second floor has a cafeteria and the simulation room. On the third floor there's a hangout area in which I really do not know what the purpose is. Unfortunately there are no noticeable things that are worth mentioning for the fourth, fifth and sixth floors. And on the seventh floor is a spa and a hot spring area.

Seriously, the architectural design of this dormitory sure is weird. I mean why would you place a spa and hot spring area on the highest floor in the building? Doesn't that call inconvenience for the pluming crew who are responsible for fixing water leakages?

As I entered the lounge area which is also on the ground floor I was greeted by a small girl wearing a black sailor uniform and had a green hair with a waxing moon on her head.

"Hello, ah, what is an Army soldier doing in the shipgirl dormitory?! Just so you know I know kung fu and karate so if you think you could defeat me because I am a little girl then think again!"

I paused for a second and then made a long sigh. I decided to ignore the girl and exited the dormitory in which I met a group of shipgirls in…tattered clothing.

"You, what are you doing in the shipgirl dormitory? Wait, don't look at this way." She turned to the side and placed a hand over her chests.

I hasten my walking speed while at the same time staring at the blue sky. For some reason it's so blue that you would've mistaken it as the ocean but those white fluffy smokes are clearly clouds so I did not mistaken the view above my head as the ocean.

As I walked hastily towards the Naval Base gate a tall figure walked in between. She was very tall, taller than Bex who is 177 centimeters tall. She had two antennas sticking out of her head. She had a long black hair and red eyes, those eyes were emitting killing intent. She also had a serious expression that a female like her was able to make.

"Excuse, but would you care to explain why an Army personnel was seen casually walking out from the shipgirl dormitory? Did you know that an army personnel—"

Before she could finish I immediately high tailed away from her serious expression. The gate was just a few meters away and if I successfully got through these shipgirls wouldn't be able to do anything to me since they are prohibited from venturing out from the fence, unless they had a good reason.

"Hurry, open the gate!" I shouted at the young marine guard who was standing outside from the guard house.

The young man did what I told him to do since my rank was higher than his and I instructed him a while ago that if something goes wrong I will need him to aid me.

The young man was sweating heavily and his skin tone looked like paper. He was shaking a bit too, that is because the towering figure behind me was running like a titan chasing after its prey.

A few more centimeters and I will be freed from this ordeal!

Just before the soles of my feet hit the ground. My vision turned black almost instantaneously.

~o~

I opened my eyes and discovered that I was tied down on a steel chair and a single lamp is placed on the table in front of me. As I tried correcting my vision by blinking a couple of times I also discovered that there was a girl sitting behind the table.

Her hands were placed under her chin as if supporting it, and her head tilting to the side. She wore a white and blue clothes and she also had a side ponytail. Yes, I am talking about Kaga who is making an indescribable expression with her face.

"So, after infiltrating the shooting range and talking with my fellow shipgirls was not enough you even went further by infiltrating the shipgirl dormitory. You even brought a device that had a map displayed on it."

"Please allow me to explain."

"I refuse, what is it for you to justify your actions that has already been deemed, inconvincible." She said as she removed the cloth on the table.

A vast array of torturing devices were placed neatly on the table. God, the almighty god that is currently sitting in the heavens and witnessing this, please tell me that I still have the chance to avoid the current path that I am being beckoned upon?

The god must've turned his head side to side as Kaga pulled a corkscrew from the table. It was rusting and the point had a green fluid dripping from it. The hairs on my body immediately stood up as I discovered that the first phase of my torture is about to begin.

"First I will use the classic method performed by the Imperial Japanese navy during wartime interrogations. This should immediately make you spit everything out almost instantaneously."

Kaga gently traced the edge of my shoulder. I could hear her faint exhales as she slid the wooden part of the corkscrew on my neck. When she was finally standing in front of me she kneeled over and placed the tip of the corkscrew on my thigh.

I could feel the cold tip of the corkscrew. My breathing becoming erratic and my eyes pinned on the corkscrew that was placed on my thigh.

"Now, how about we start the interrogation shall we?"

Jesus Christ, if you are listening to me right now. Would you please tell the Japanese God of light that these Japanese shipgirls believe on, to stop this girl right this instant?! Wait, these girls only believe on the emperor and the emperor is their holy being so wait. Oh, please tell Emperor Hirohito to stop his carrier from torturing me please?

Not a second too soon, the cold tip of the corkscrew burrowed deep inside my thigh.

~o~

"Stop her right this instant!"

The moment I heard the admiral screaming like that I immediately ran outside from his office and ran straight to the interrogation room which was on the basement of the shipgirl dormitory.

Even though I am a light cruiser who is capable of making 34 knots top speed, I am still hopeless if I do not summon my battle riggings. Luckily for me Admiral Goto's office was already at the ground floor, the problem was that the shipgirl dormitory is a bit far from his office. I still need to sprint on open grounds, tell the marine guards to open the gates before sprinting again on open grounds before reaching the shipgirl dormitory.

When I eventually arrived at the dormitory I saw a group of shipgirls staring at the flat screen that is currently displaying Kaga torturing an unknown soldier.

"Kaga really does not hold back during interrogations, huh? Even the abyssals were no match for her, I really feel bad for that unfortunate soldier to be experiencing this." A short shipgirl wearing a green camouflage kimono top made a sigh as she watched the torture scene.

"Zuiho, did Kaga already start the torture?!" I shouted at the short light carrier.

"You also wanted to watch the torture as well that you even abandoned your job as a secretary ship?! I say, you really are a weird girl."

Zuiho was a lost cause, the flat screen T.V was enough to tell me that the soldier already passed out from shock or blood loss. Kaga too was looking grotesque, her white clothes were sprayed with red and her hand was dripping with blood.

Since when did Kaga become the torturer in the Combined Fleet?

Anyways I ran towards the basement where two battleships were standing guard. Namely the misfortunate battleship sisters, Fuso and Yamashiro.

"H-hold it Ooyodo-san, Kaga-san has strictly instructed us that no outside visitors are to disturb her session with the Army soldier." Fuso said with a worried look on her face.

"This has to stop, Admiral Goto has told me to stop this immediately." I shouted as I kicked open the basement door.

What I saw was Kaga lifting up a baseball bat, extending her hand over her head and was preparing to make her swing. Out of instinct I immediately jumped in between her trajectory and I was hit right at the neck.

"Ooyodo-san!" Kaga frantically shouted.

"O-orders from the admiral, you have to stop the torture right now…..or he will dismantle you…"

I did not notice right there that I passed out as well. I really did not expect that a light cruiser like me was knocked out by a mere baseball bat.


	11. Revision

**Revision**

* * *

So I asked myself yet again. How did I manage to get here?

For a while that question would repeat itself over and over again, it's been 30 minutes already and that question hasn't been answered yet. Not that I refused to answer it but a quintessential thing that is needed to answer that question is currently missing.

Yes, I currently do not possess the memory to answer that question. The only thing that I managed to remember is the scene where I examined my new platoon quarters and my carefree walk on the shipgirl dormitory hallway.

After that, I remember nothing. Did I pass out during my carefree walk or did I fell asleep as I walked on the hallway? Either way I am currently not in the position to answer the first question.

The second question deals with the current situation that I was in. I feel wet, yes that is correct. My whole body is drench in liquid, it was warm and refreshing. When I lowered my gaze from the white ceiling I saw the color of the warm water.

It was green in hue almost resembling light goo. When I tried scooping a volume of it the color diminishes as if the water only reflected the color of the floor underneath. Like a swimming pool copying the blue color of the blue tiles under the chlorine water.

I continued examining the water until a sharp and numbing pain came to my right thigh. I could not see underneath the light green colored water but I could feel a rough flexible object wrapped around my right thigh.

"Ah it seems that you have woken up. How do you feel?" Echoes a female's voice inside my ear.

I turned around and saw Akashi wearing her usual attire, but on her hand is a silver platter and on it are surgical apparatus like scissors and scalpels. She came closer and placed the silver platter on a wooden table next to the pool.

"I somehow managed to close it, the water should've already fixed the organs and muscles that were ripped. Here, let me help get out of there."

Akashi extended her hand to me. I raised my dominant hand and clasp hers. It was slender and soft, I knew Akashi's job in the Combined Fleet. She is a repair ship, responsible for repairing shipgirl equipment and as well as tending shipgirl wounds after sorties. Akashi handled heavy equipment like cranes and handheld tools, naturally a human hand's skin would become thick and swollen after being overused but her hand was soft as if her job as a repair shipgirl was just a lie.

With a smile on her face she pulled me out of the pool without any resistance. Although I weighted 75 kilograms she was able to pull an adult soldier like me like it was nothing.

She then wraps my arm around her neck, supporting me towards the chair right next to wooden table. I realized that I was stark naked and a black wet underwear was the only thing covering my lower body.

I averted my eyes whenever Akashi threw a gaze at me. She looked undisturbed too, she looked accustomed by it, after she removed the bandage looking wrapping on my right thigh, I saw a large scar. It had the same size as a three inch ball that has penetrated my thigh as if it entered supersonic speeds.

The hairs of my body immediately rose up as I realized that I missed something important.

"What in a world happened before I get here?" I asked with an shocked tone.

"Well, you fell on the stairs when you were walking around the shipgirl dormitory. It just so happens that a steel pole was sticking out of the walls when you were tumbling about. When your back hit the wall the steel pole penetrated your right thigh. You immediately entered a state of shock and a pool of blood surrounded you."

I fell on the stairs and somehow got myself on a final destination like movie scenario? I almost lost my life not on the battlefield but on the stairs of a shipgirl dormitory?!

"But let's just shrugged that off, how do you feel? Although the fluids that I engineered together with Asahi were authentic, it is still on its testing phase, if you feel anything that doesn't feel right please tell me right away." Akashi said with a worried expression on her face.

Should I be worried by the fact that I was the first one who was tested by a new untested product? Should I be worried by the fact that if ever this new product had any side effects I am the only one that is going to experience the side effect?

As those fears surfaced on my face, Akashi was already wrapping another cloth that looked the same as the one that was wrapped around my right thigh a few seconds ago.

"These pressure pads should help a bit about those numbing feelings. I'll be giving you six sets of pressure pads and if ever your right thigh comes in contact with water immediately replace the pressure pad with a new one. " She said as she finished the last cycle.

With that said Akashi moved a bit further away from me and grabbed the notepad that was placed near the silver platter.

"Now if you don't mind, how about walking on you own please?"

I did just that and managed to walk properly despite from the fact that my right thigh was still numb. Akashi wrote something on the notepad before patting my shoulder blade and pointed on the folded uniform above the other chair.

"Since your issued uniform are still being washed use these set for now." Akashi said softly.

I walked towards the chair and lifted the upper body portion of the uniform. The whole uniform had a green and gray mix of camouflage which was pretty uncommon. There are four pouches on the upper body itself and the trousers only had two pockets.

Using the towel on the side, I wiped on my wet skin before putting it on the arm rest of the chair. I took the brown gray t-shirt first before wearing the green and gray camouflage upper body. Not having a new set of dry underpants I swallowed my pride and removed the wet underpants that I had and wore the trousers without wearing anything underneath. After slotting the metal pin of the belt on the fourth hole I realized that trousers which had a woodland camouflage pattern on it were longer than I expected.

To compensate for this problem I took the socks that looked like it was not washed and inserted my foot in it. Same boots which was good since I could just tuck in the edge of the long trousers inside the boots.

Using the towel again to wipe my head I turned my direction towards Akashi, who for some reasons, I didn't notice standing beside me while I changed. Standing stiff with her eyes widen and her posture frozen like on the part where she was writing something on the notepad while looking on my general direction, she turned her eyes to the side trying to avoid my shocked expression.

"Eh, ah. Well I did not expect that one. Well, Admiral Goto is waiting for you on his office, I believe you know where that is right?"

"Yes-yes, I'll be going now. Thanks for assisting me, Akashi." I said as I hastily walked towards the exit.

Just as I was about to close the door and ran towards the elevator I heard an audible mutter behind the door.

"R-right. Get a grip Akashi, you've seen enough of those in the world wide web. There is no reason for you to be looking flushed like that!"

I pushed away from the door and headed straight to the elevator.

The elevator immediately arrived, which surprised me because I am currently on the topmost floor in this building. I knew that this floor was highest floor because right above the elevator are a set of numbers which represents a floor and then a white backlight could be seen on the last number among the group, which is the seventh floor.

I pressed the G letter on the terminal and waited for the elevator to open its doors again. However, the elevator opened on the fifth floor. Not because I misclicked but because someone on that floor must've pressed the elevator terminal on that floor.

The elevator doors opened and behind it are four shipgirls. Two of which looked like elementary schoolgirls and the last two looked like high school students.

"Ah Fuck-san, Good morning." A long brown haired girl wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, arm warmers, bike shorts under a skirt with suspenders and black knee-highs waved her hand at me after she greeted me with my annoying nickname.

I tried my best not to strangle her because she really looked like an elementary school girl. Then the black haired girl behind her threw a sudden jab on the brown haired girl's head.

"Arashio, show some respect. That is a high ranking officer you are talking with! Ah, sorry Second Lieutenant for my sister's disrespectful attitude toward you."

"Uuu~ you fame whore older sister."

"Shut-up, I am not a fame whore! Just get inside the elevator already we're going to be late with our emergency sortie with Kongo-san."

Arashio who was standing in front was pushed by the older sister who then entered the elevator. Observing their argument are two tall girls wearing a tan blouse and a brown jacket. The both of them wore the same clothes and when they noticed me staring at them the mint colored hair girl bowed.

"Nice to meet you, I am Suzuya third ship of the Mogami-class heavy cruisers."

"Nice to meet you, I am Kumano fourth ship of the Mogami-class heavy cruisers."

The two of them spoke simultaneously that I only managed to remember their names. The mint-colored hair shipgirl named Suzuya spoke first while resting a hand on the brown haired girl named Kumanoo' shoulders.

"Kumano, why are you always interrupting me during my introduction? I am the older sister you know?"

"I did not interrupt you. It just so happened that we told him our names simultaneously."

"No-no, you are always like this. Yesterday too when Ashigara invited us on a secret mixer you always stole the spotlight. Because of you Ashigara was unable to find a suitable partner!"

I could see Kumano's temple pulsating for a second. Annoyed she shoved Suzuya's hand to the side and faced her with a displeased expression.

"So it was my entire fault now? Is it my fault that you only had that cow like tits like Ashigara and did not have the feminine charm like mine? Don't lump your insecurities on me Suzuya."

"Oh it's on now!"

As soon as Suzuya said that the elevator doors opened and I immediately ran out of the elevator. Arashio and Asashio did the same and the older sister immediately pressed all the floor buttons on the elevator terminal.

"That should do." Arashio said with a sigh while we watched the elevator doors closed.

"We-were they always like that?" I asked her.

"Yes, even small things like toothpaste color are debated. Anyhow, see you later Second Lieutenant."

Asashio bowed while Arashio waved a hand at me. Then, both of them then ran towards the Sortie area which was adjacent with the front entrance of the building. I could hear a loud shout of 'You're late dammit!' after Arashio closed the doors of the Sortie Area.

Not wanting to be involved by it I walked out of the Shipgirl dormitory building and headed straight to the Admiralty Office.

It was convenient for me since Admiral Goto's office was just on the first floor. Facing the brown double doors yet again I knocked three times before stating my rank and name. I received no response however, so by virtue I slowly opened the door and saw the admiral's table empty.

"Shhhh~" Came a faint noise.

I turn to the side and saw Kaga sleeping upright on the Sofa while Admiral Goto dozing off on Kaga's thigh. Crouched in front of the two is the secretary ship named Ooyodo.

"Shhh~ don't make a noise. Doesn't he look cute? Even though he is already nearing 32 years old he still looks young and—"Ooyodo paused and then rested a hand on Goto's head. "Patting his head while he sleeps like this is my favorite hobby."

I stood there watching the questionable behavior of the secretary ship. I stood there with my mouth opened when I saw Kaga opening her eyes and immediately showed a displeased expression like she lost something important. Ooyodo did not notice it until Kaga rested a hand on Ooyodo's head and threw her out of the window using a single hand.

And I stood there, witnessing, all of it in 60 fps.


	12. Reason

**Reason**

* * *

When Ooyodo finally returned to the admiralty office, specifically Admiral Goto's office, the high ranking officer present in the office finally decided to wipe away the gloomy setting.

"Goodness, you don't have to be that sour, Kaga-san." Ooyodo groaned as she massages her jaw.

"I do not like girls who steal something that I own, especially you Ooyodo-san." Kaga replied with a stoic look on her face and her dominant hand leisurely stoking Admiral Goto's neck.

"I-I would like to start the meeting now. So please, honey, stop stroking my neck like it's made of fox hide." Admiral Goto groaned.

"Ehhh, you're such a downer honey."

"I know you are trying your best to ask forgiveness on me but I already told you, I have already forgiven you, so please."

"But I haven't given you my apology so why are you already forgiving me? Are my sins really that forgivable!?"

"Kaga-san, stop doing that in front of the Second Lieutenant it's embarrassing so please."

With a loud cough, Kaga stopped her teasing. She averted my gaze and made a downcast look.

"Ah, perhaps did I do something that I disturbed you Kaga?" I asked her only to be answered by two head turns to the side.

"She is just having trouble talking with someone she doesn't know. So don't be disturbed by her attitude."

"Honey"

"It's alright, I got this. Hmm, how about you make some tea while Ermest-san and I talk? Does that sound good?" Admiral Goto smiled at Kaga.

"Is that so?" Kaga nodded before exiting the office.

Immediately after that Admiral Goto let out a deep sigh as if a heavy burden has been lifted.

"Honey...? What was that all about? The two of you sounded like a married couple." I said to him.

"Well that is because they've been married for three years now." Ooyodo interjected.

"Ooyodo!"

"Woops" Ooyodo placed a hand on her lips as if she was sorry for revealing something important. But the smug look on her face, clearly signify she wasn't sorry at all.

Putting a hand on his face, Admiral Goto let out another sigh as if a new burden has arrived.

"Married to a shipgirl huh? That does sound...interesting." I said openly.

"Please keep it between the two of us because not a single word about this has been revealed outside of that gate. If the diet hears about this, who knows what would've...no, What will happened." Admiral Goto's words felt heavy, like a 600 ton object placed on your shoulders heavy.

"Of course, I am a man who keeps his word. Still, how did you do it?" I asked with a taint tone of curiosity.

I asked and I sat on the chair that was placed in front of his table. Ooyodo came closer and gave Admiral Goto a document.

"Yes admiral, do tell us how you managed to have six shipgirl wives in this naval base."

Upon hearing that Admiral Goto hugs his head like a criminal found to be guilty.

"Ooyodo please don't." Admiral Goto pleaded once again.

"Six wives, how in a world did you managed to do that without even being butchered to pieces?"

"You see, after Admiral Goto reached the fruitful age of 28 he was requested by his family to be married. Not wanting to be burdened by both the situation of the war and the safety of his to be made new family, he sent a photo with a letter saying that he was already married. And the poor parents of his actually bit the bait." Ooyodo gave Admiral Goto a look of utter disgust, Admiral Goto's skin tone change into paper almost instantaneously.

"And the so called wife on that picture that he sent to his parents was none other than Kaga-san herself, who was also labeled, the first wife."

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Admiral Goto yelled but Ooyodo continued talking.

"It was not long when the other shipgirls discovered about this so called marriage. Those who were consumed by jealously immediately ran in this office. It was a bloody scene and Kaga-san was immediately defeated by the other five shipgirls namely."

The second wife, Yura—

The third wife, Akagi—

The fourth wife, Fuso—

And the fifth wife, Ooyodo—

The moment I saw Ooyodo made that scary expression the hairs of my body immediately stood straight. She almost looked like a wife who just discovered she was cheated by his husband and was prepared to kill the concubine that was attached to her husband like a leech.

"Up until this day, I've been abusing my power as a secretary ship to forcibly sortie his other wives around the pacific."

"What?! It was you all along?!" Admiral Goto shouted.

You just discovered?!

"Akagi is currently posted on the yellow sea right now. Yura is posted on the northern sea region. Fuso is posted near the island of Taiwan. I and Kaga however were the only ones who have 24/7 interaction with our husband, right Honey?"

Admiral Goto, fix this right now or else we might see some unnecessary bloodshed in the near future!

"With that said. Second Lieutenant, have you already read the papers that I gave to you? Those papers were neatly placed on the rectangular box." Ooyodo said as she fixes the posture of her glasses.

"The papers you've sent? The only papers that I ever received were the ones that were inside the rectangular box that Yuubari gave to me. She told me me that its an urgent letter for Commander Crisanto but as it turns out it was actually a letter for me..." I said to her with a confused expression.

Ooyodo glanced to the side and a smirk emerged from her mouth. Ooyodo, you better not abuse your power as a secretary ship even further!

"Well it was I who ordered Yuubari to give you the letter..."

"But, I've already read the letter and I am still gathering up the men that was listed on the letter." I continued.

"Please do work on that. Anyhow, Admiral you take it from here."

"Thank you, Ooyodo—"

Ooyodo peered closely at Admiral Goto. Her eyes were ice cold and her hand resting on Goto's large hand.

"Thank you, honey." Admiral Goto corrected his incomplete sentence.

"Hehehe." Ooyodo sneered before walking towards the exit.

Admiral Goto, please don't be a plastic bag being abused by your wife, just please don't!

"Haaaa, alright now that's done. How about we finally start the purpose of this experimental proposal of mine?"

"Firstly, you should've known by now that shipgirls are only limited on the sea correct?"

"Yes, that's been a stone carves rule ever since."

"Now, what do you propose we do if we were to be forced to fight land based abyssals that's been lurking on the southern sector of japan?"

Isn't that question kinda pointless, I mean we've already been given the means to defeat an abyssal one-sidedly. So why is there a need to question me about this?

"Aren't the newly invented AT-200's and AT-600's not enough? We've been told that those SFW's were effective on penetrating abyssal armor."

Admiral Goto nodded before presenting a paper with a picture printed on it. It was a land based abyssal that had six pincers like legs and a body that resembles a Wo-class abyssal carrier's head.

"These are the newly discovered Ku-class LBA's. These are literally a walking airfield and we knew nothing about the penetration values of the SFW's against these giants."

"Why? Don't most of the abyssals have a flexible armor that acts like a mattress?"

"These twelve foot monsters have protective shields that could protect them from any projectiles. That includes armor piercing shells of my shipgirls."

"Have you already tested it? Did that force field successfully stopped shipgirl ammo?"

"Yes. Even the conventional bombs of my carrier borne planes were ineffective."

If the shipgirls cannot penetrate it then how are we going to defeat these monsters? If a group of Ku-class LBA's attack us unknowingly we won't be able to stop them. This whole island nation would be overrun almost immediately.

"That is where your platoon comes in. The Experimental Application Platoon. Your job will be testing newly built weapons that are designed by our country against land based abyssals." Admiral Goto said as he placed a notepad containig pictures of peculiar weapons in front of me.

So—

"So basically a suicide platoon is given an untested weapon to fight on the battlefield filled of man eating monsters?"

"Your platoon is in charge of testing these weapons that are lightweight and portable on Land warfare."

And he is not even bothering to listen to what he is saying.

"This Friday, your platoon will be sent near the quarry to test out the newly invented weapons. I need you to test out the durability of these weapons as well as the effectiveness against enemy land based abyssals."

Today is Tuesday, that means I only got three days to gather the men and organized them into proper fire teams, that even includes trust build up and teamwork!?

"So who ordered you to do this? The Russians? The Japanese diet? The Alaskan government? The Scandinavian commonwealth?"

"No one, it was me who proposed this idea during an online conference of the UN." Admiral Goto answered.

"What is it for me? If doing my part here and leading my soldiers to their demise is not enough, is there a greater reason for me and the others who've been risking our lives to help defend your country?" I asked in a cold tone.

Admiral Goto looks away and placed a hand on his left cheek. Just as he did that the double doors opened and Kaga entered with a wooden platter with three cups of tea and a basket full of snacks.

"If you want your country to be liberated, you should accept this proposal."

Upon hearing that the silent whispers of my fellow countrymen entered my head. The whispers of home and family, the whispers of going back and the urge of wanting to fight without thinking of not dying on a foreign land, they flooded entered my head like it was a power point presentation.

"We cannot overly rely on our shipgirls to do the jobs that aren't specialized on land based warfare. They are called shipgirls not tankgirls for a reason; it is up us normal humans to fight on land while our shipgirls liberate the seas." Admiral Goto continued as he looked at Kaga with a solemn gaze.

Kaga turned her head to the side realizing that she was not in a position to talk. She slowly placed the wooden platter on the small table near the cabinets and sat there silently with a smile on her face.

"You have a point, they cannot walk on land if their riggings are summoned and if ever they would use their planes and cannons to the fight the abyssal on land their accuracy deceases and there's a chance that they might even hit their own comrades."

"Exactly, and these aren't my own selfish opinions as well. The facts says it all..."

I stared at the paper that had the pictures of each peculiar weapon that was specialized on a single purpose, to defeat an abyssal. Each one of them looked heavy and each varied from large weapons to small weapons. Each of them had their own caliber requirement and each of them had a set of rules that must be followed so that weapon would function properly. That means, maintenance, cooling and changing parts upon every sortie.

"Oh, if it's about the practicability choices, that job falls onto me. I will do the selection while at the same time command my shipgirls on the seas."

I raised my head and saw Admiral Goto staring at Kaga with a smile on his face. It's the same smile he gave at Ooyodo whenever they act professionally or during their own free-time. It was the same smile you would see from a commanding officer who believes on his shipgirls. An officer who has strong confidence that his shipgirls will complete a mission successfully and efficiently.

Admiral Goto knew his shipgirls well, all 444 of them. All battleships, destroyers, light cruisers, heavy cruisers, auxiliary ships, submarines, carries, light carriers, escort carriers, seaplane tenders, battlecruisers and many more. Who knows how many type of shipgirls he actually know and had a bond with.

I wonder if I could also smile like him. Smile towards my own men who did their jobs properly, who did their very best to return home. What am I saying? We are the ones pivoting the choices between the liberation of our homeland or abandoning it.

And I knew very well that all of us, all of my own surviving countrymen would choose the former. They would eagerly do anything to return home, see their families and save a country that they've unable to return to for almost four years.

December 18th of 2050, four years after the outbreak of the Abyssal War between humanity and the organic extraterrestrial beings called the Abyssals sparked. On this date marks the formation of the Army Department's 1st Experimental Detachment Platoon or also commonly nicknamed by the soldiers both from the JSDF and the remnants of the 501st Expeditionary Legion, Snafu Platoon.

~o~

"Yuubari your SME or Specified Memory Eraser worked wonderfully." I said in an amazed tone.

"Oh, don't mention it. It was our fault from the start that he was thrown on that kind of position. Poor second lieutenant, I wished for that scene not to resurface again."

"I feel you, Yuubari. So about that letter that I ordered you to send."

"What is it, Ooyodo? The second lieutenant already received the letter when he was replenishing ammunitions and receiving the SFW's this morning."

"About the prime minister part…..am I that old for you?"


	13. Cavern

**Cavern**

* * *

Just as she told me. The message arrived containing the date, time and location regarding the cavern she was talking about. The unpleasant feeling was that she decided that we should meet up at the middle of night where Sendai's night battle shenanigans are most active.

When I arrived at the location wearing my casual uniform and a case full of canned beverages, I saw Hiryuu standing underneath the shadow of a large tree wearing her usual yellow kimono top and green skirt. The unusual thing was that she was wearing a green leather jacket over her yellow kimono top. Since when did leather jackets look fine with kimono tops?

"Heyya, took you a while." She said.

"I still have paperworks to finish. The guards too were a little bit enthusiastic about guarding the outside perimeter as well. So I had to persuade Sendai to make a lot of ruckus in exchange for a fuel coke."

"Woah, that entrepreneurial skill of yours sure does sound scary. Anyhow, I've brought the snacks that I was talking about."

Hiryuu presented a plastic bag full of snacks. Those were not the only ones though; on her back were two pairs of folding beds.

"I already knew that we're going to have a great hangover tonight so I brought some folding beds along so that the crabs wouldn't be bothering us during our sleep."

Hiryuu, what in a world are you suggesting here? Just a heads up I haven't seen a drunken shipgirl—no, why did I even accept her offer in the first place?

"Follow me. The cavern is just this way."

The cavern that she was talking about was around 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide. It looked like a clamp at first glance, and upon closer inspection a campfire pit was already set up at the middle of the small cavern.

"Put the drinks inside that cooler over there. I'll arrange the folding beds."

The cooler was placed right next to the campfire pit. If you are asking about the beverages that I've brought, it's a mix of beer and softdrinks.

"Now, how about we start talking?" She said to me.

Hiryuu placed the two folding beds on each side of the campfire pit. The campfire pit was already lit before I even noticed. On the left side is where Hiryuu sat and on the right is an empty folding bed. I placed the cooler in front of the campfire pit, not too close though. I opened the cooler and grabbed a soft drink called 'coke zero' before resting my back on the right folding bed.

"Just to be sure, the tide wouldn't reach us in the morning right?"

"You worrywart, can't you see that there's sand in between us and the ocean? I've been here for a while and the ocean is not going to drown us in the morning." She replied with a hand rotating in the air.

Right, I need to get my head straight. I just need to be relaxed for now and not start worrying over superfluous things.

"I heard that you accepted the Admiral's offer. That's good that just means we can now depend on someone else."

"Depend on someone else? What do you mean? Is Admiral Goto not dependable?"

Hiryuu turned her head to the sides. She then stood up and grabbed a beer can from the cooler.

"He is a dependable man, it's just—"

"Just what?"

Hiryuu sat back on the folding bed then took a quick sip on her beer. She let out a deep sigh before raising her head towards me.

"I feel edgy whenever I am near him. Like he is hiding something from us, it's not just him though. Kaga, Ooyodo, Zuiho, Shoukaku and even Murasame-chan as well."

Edgy? or do you mean disturbed? How could she say something like that even though Admiral Goto is friendly towards you and the others? No, she knew Goto longer than me; of course she would notice immediately that something feels off.

"I am not the only one feeling this too. Girls from the 4th Destroyer Division and Zuikaku-san felt it as well."

4th Destroyer Division? If my memory serves me right aren't they the 6th Division that was tasked on scouting missions on the southern isles of Japan before a major sortie? Zuikaku on the other hand, well let's just say that I've heard nothing about her despite from the fact that she took part on the relief detachment with her sister Shoukaku.

"When did this start?"

"Ever since Atago left the Naval Base about a year ago, she never came back and the 13th Destroyer Division just told me that Nagatsuki and Matsukaze were with Atago to take part on a long term expedition near Taiwan."

I've heard of Long Term Expeditions from a marine guard but I've never heard of a one year expedition before. That would require a lot of fuel and ammunition reserves, not to mention Admiral Goto sent a heavy cruiser and two destroyers all by themselves.

"Well, we just need to pray for their safe return and not think about bad things." I said to her while taking sip with my coke.

Atago, huh? How is she by the way? Atago, the first shipgirl ever summoned in Japan. I've had fond memories of her, not to mention that it was her who started calling me 'Fuck-san' during her first weeks in this Naval Base. The last time I had an interaction with her was like two years ago, specifically during a major fish sale day.

Why haven't I wondered about that? What she was doing right now and where she is right now. I've must've been overwhelmed by the sudden reality check during the previous battle I had on Kanmonkyo Bridge that her existence somehow slipped out of my mind.

"Oh, I forgot to ask but are you dating someone right now, Ermest-san?" Hiryuu asked calmly.

I almost dropped the coke can from my hands when that sudden question bombed the shit out of my conscience.

"Why the sudden change of topic?"

"I just feel like changing the topic. Talking about gloomy things with a beautiful scenery like this, isn't it a waste? Say-say, tell me your answer already."

The night scenery of the sea sure does look beautiful today. The faint sound of salt water washing on the shore and the calm cold sea breeze, it really is a beautiful scene. Minus the part where a night battle idiot is flashing a searchlight all over the horizon.

"No, I do not have time for that. My hands are already tied and a sudden thing like that would only make things worse. Talk about responsibilities." I answered straightforwardly.

Hiyuu made a pout before throwing an empty beer can on my face. Oi, don't throw away your manners young lady!

"You're no fun. At least Admiral Goto is a manlier person than the likes of you." She leaned back on the folding bed.

"What does that supposed to mean? I am still aging, of course my experience towards love is still improving, just at a slow speed."

"That's no excuse. You are just dense and spineless, I know—" She paused then opened another beer can. "How about going out with me? You'll surely have a great time!" She said with her hands raised in the air.

You just emptied a single beer can and you are already drunk from that? Are you that weak towards alcohol?

"I think I must decline on that. A drunken woman confessing to a man just invites problem and a lot of misunderstandings. You probably wouldn't even remember confessing to me once you are done with your hangover." I said and emptied my can of coke.

"But I can cook, I can clean the house, I can do the laundry. If you want I could satisfy your manly desires too!"

Dammit I need a beer, if I listen to her with a straight mind I might just accept her offer. With that in mind I walked towards the cooler and grabbed four cans of beer and placed them under the folding bed. I opened one beer can and immediately emptied it.

"No, just no Hiryuu." I said to her.

"So dense and so mean, if you don't accept my offer now you might not get another chance you know? Even worse, you might not get married when you reach thirty."

"I am not conscious about my age like you Japanese manikins. Do Japanese citizens even age? Just a month ago I've mistaken a forty year old woman as a high school student. Also, in my country there is no such thing as a no marriage luck line, I could even still remember a man who was already fifty years old marrying a sixteen year old."

Hiryuu emptied her second beer can and opened another. She then removed her green leather jacket and opened a large potato chip snack.

"Listening to you is such a pain. No wonder Kaga-san doesn't like Army soldiers; Dense, unforgiving and most of all mean as well."

"That is just a narrow-minded discrimination. I shall never accept that."

I did not realize by that time that I just finished empting my 11th beer can. I stood up and walked towards Hiyuu with a fuzzy vision and poked her nose like a button on an elevator terminal.

"Hehehe"

"Stop playing with my nose!" Hiryuu shouted and shoved me to the ground

She then stood up with staggering legs and grabbed my hair. Using brute force she was able to drag me from the ground and slammed me singlehandedly to the folding bed.

"Like an abyssal who has lost its armaments…..weak and vulnerable….hehe…"

"Hiryuu~ why are you talking like that? I'm a commanding officer you know? I command you to ease the pain~ hehe."

"Ro~ger."

Hiryu sat at the folding bed and placed a hand on my forehead. Slowly she moved her hand side to side from my forehead then to my hair.

"Geez, I am really jealous of Atago. Although I am the second ship to be summoned why is she taking everything…..you….belong….to….me…."

"Stop blathering nonsense, servant. Rub my head more gently~"

"Ro~ger."

It must've been at that point of time that I did not remember anything after that. When I opened my eyes again it was already morning and my head was fuzzy also twenty cans of beer were scattered across my sides and a green leather jacket covering my upper body.

What kind of beer did I even buy that I was knocked out with just twenty cans?


	14. Epilogue Start

**Epilogue; Start**

* * *

With a fuzzy vision and nauseated head I raised my body and examined my surroundings. The campfire was already exhausted and the cooler opened with water the only thing left inside. The sun was already above in the horizon and the cold breeze that I felt in the evening was gone and replaced with a warm breeze.

"What time is it?"

I pulled my old looking phone and discovered that it was already out of battery. I did not brought a wristwatch with me so I was basically in the regarding what the time is. I got up from the folding bed and saw the other person that was with me yesterday. Sleeping on the sand is none other than Hiryuu who is sleeping loudly with deep exhales, her face covered with an empty potato chip plastic and her clothes slightly tugged to the side.

There are 15 cans of beer resting around her. A faint chucker escaped my mouth as I say "light drinker" towards her uncomfortable position.

The cavern was a mess, cans were scattered everywhere so I did what my mother would've told me; clean up.

I was rather surprised that our drinking hangover didn't escalate into a disastrous one. Stretching my arms and legs, I walked out from the cavern after stuffing the emptied cans of beer inside the cooler and discovered the sun to be placed 60 degrees on the sky. It must've been nine in the morning, the morning siren should've sounded off by now but I doubt that the sound of that annoying siren would reach here.

I approached the ocean and splashed a hand full of salt water on my face; I then wiped it off with a towel stuffed inside my pocket. I was crouched down when a black object was washed in between my legs.

Out of curiosity I picked up the black shard and examined it. It was small like 3 inches small and had the same weight as a fully loaded magazine.

Upon closer inspection the surface of the black shard was rough and when I put pressure on it, it would deform like clay. Having had enough of examining the black shard I placed it inside my right chest pocket and walked back to the cavern.

Despite her blissful sleep I still managed to wake her up with a stick. Standing beside her I then gave her a water bottle.

"Here drink this." I said to her softly.

She opened her eyes and rubbed them with both hands. She then slowly grabbed the plastic bottle and drank the water in it. After a few seconds I felt sharp stinging sensation on my side. I took a glance over it only to discover that a fist was already burrowing on it.

When I turned my head to the front I was then tackled down to the sand.

With a combat knife in her hand she aimed straight at my head. Instinctively I raised my hand to block her only to regret it soon after. The tip of the blade penetrated through my left hand and large amounts of blood covered my face. The pain screamed across my body but the block bought me enough time to grab her wrist using my other hand, disarming her in the process, before shoving her off my stomach.

After I turned around I grabbed the combat knight that was lying next to me. Hiryuu saw this and hurriedly stood up from the ground.

Unarmed, Hiryuu jumped out from the cavern. I immediately tackled her down when she landed on both legs. If she reaches the ocean she could summon her riggings, I can't let her do that until I reason with her.

We fell to the ground and I immediately climbed on top of her, placed the knife under her chin while locking her hands above her head.

"What's wrong with you?! Are you that embarrassed about last night that you went on a total 180 on me?!"

"What are you blathering about? I did not expect to meet an abyssal this close on infiltrating the naval base. I wouldn't underestimate my enemy if I were you. Despite being a shipgirl—" Hiryuu slams a head butt on my forehead. "I am still capable on hand to hand combat!"

With her hands released Hiryuu rested a palm on my arm and turned it towards the side the momentum carried my body and soon after my back was already resting on the sand. The odds switched and it was Hiryuu who was already pinning me to the ground. She then disarms me and took the combat knife from my possession.

Despite her having smaller shoulder muscles I was losing on endurance. Slowly the tip approached my eye, I held back until she was close enough that I was able to make a right hook on her face.

The tip of the blade tore a large scar on my uniform and my right chest pouch was ripped opened. Retracting my legs close to my stomach I placed the soles of my boots on her stomach and pushed her off like a trampoline.

With staggering legs I managed to stand up and jumped on top of Hiryuu again, this time I threw the blade to the ocean while I pin both of her hand above her head.

"Dammit stop it already!"

The killing intent on her eyes subsided and was replaced with a dumbfounded expression.

"E-Ermest-san?"

Fatigue eventually overwhelmed my body and I was unable to keep my head above her. Like the hand of a fortune cat, my head rested on top of her forehead and her nose touching my left cheek.

"Wha-wha!"

"Stay down, my body feels heavy right now. Give me some time to recover." I said to her softly.

"But the abyssal! There's an abyssal just a while ago." She replied worriedly.

"There is no abyssal here, Hiryuu. You were just drunk and suddenly attacked me."

"What?!"

Hiryuu turned her attention to my state. My top uniform torn open and my face pale from exhaustion. Slowly my I pulled my wounded hand and hid it behind my back. Slowly I raised my body and stood up. Using my other hand I secretly wrapped my towel around my wound.

I tried my best not to reveal to her that I was wounded in the process. Although not recommended I used sand as a makeshift blood clogs so that the blood wouldn't spill on Hiryuu's hand and make her worry. I leaned my back on the cavern wall and turned my attention towards her shocked state.

"You're bleeding!" She shouted and ran towards me.

Shit I forgot about the blood covering my face. Using the edges of her kimono top she wiped the blood off my face and started examining my head.

"I am not wounded in the head or anything. You just spilled some grape juice in my face."

"Don't talk like I'm an idiot, Ermest-san! I know this smell and this is not grape juice."

Well at least I tried. Grabbing her hand I pushed her away slowly and fixed my posture.

"Now that you are back in reality, How about we head back to the naval base?"

Hiryuu glanced to the side and made a very displeased expression.

"No, you stay here while I get back to the naval base and get some first aid—" She paused and then gave me her green leather uniform that I left on the folding bed.

"I am a soldier you know?"

"And you are bleeding from somewhere! Stay here until I come back, alright?" She finally snapped and ran off towards the naval base.

My hand was still bleeding from her attack. I tried putting some more sand on it but it was only making things worse. Of course, how could sand coated with salt water make a wound better? Then a recent memory popped on my head.

"I need to find Akashi."

I remembered about the special water that could heal wounds from Akashi. After all she used it on me yesterday. I even forgot to change the pressure pads on my thighs.

Also there is one thing that needs to be addressed from this encounter. Yes, after standing up with staggering legs I walked towards the black shard that I picked up a while ago. It might have been a coincidence but it still bothered me somehow, I picked up the black shard and placed it at the ashes of the campfire pit.

Akashi' shop is still far from my current position. I wondered if I could reach there in time without passing out from blood loss.

~o~

It was early in the morning and there are no shipgirls on sight. The Naval Base was really empty. The marine guards were giving me confused looks probably because I was wearing Hiryuu's green leather jacket or maybe I looked cool wearing this leather jacket.

Akashi' shop was thankfully open, I knocked on the steel doors and after hearing a 'Coming' voice I started leaning my shoulder on the side and waited for Akashi to open the door.

"Who is it?" Her pink hair popped out after the steel doors opened.

"It's me, I was wondering if you could help me fix a problem." I said to her.

"If this is about love then I cannot help you. If this is about military equipment then I will gladly help you."

"I have a large wound on my hand. Can you help me close this up?"

I raised my hand and revealed my infected hand to her. I was really regretting putting sand on my wound now. Although the pain didn't throb, seeing it with a purple color sure gave me the chills.

"What in a world did you do to your hand?! Come, put your hand inside that container over there!" She pulled me inside her shop.

Her shop was messy and disorganized. Tools for precise measuring were placed above the cabinets, rulers placed on the sink, I could even see a micrometer placed inside a cup. Not to mention that the floor is littered with steel chips from a lathe or milling machine.

I did what she ordered me to do which is placing my hand inside the container that she pointed out. I made sure that the container was empty; I wouldn't want to insert my hand inside a container full of acid you know?

Akashi then came a few seconds later with a flask on her hand containing a green glowing substance. She placed it to the side and then opened a water container with a single hand. Using a makeshift hose the water filled the container that my hand was placed it.

"Let your blood mix with the water for a bit. Then mix this healing compound, I'll be right back so don't move a muscle."

It didn't last long for my blood to mix with the water. With the flask placed near me I slowly poured the healing compound on the container. The glowing green hue it was emitting were giving me bad vibes but the effect of the so called healing came into play.

First the slit wound retracted as if it was being sewed by nylon. Then the numbing feeling on my hand slowly faded, the throbbing sensation too due to the infection was gone as well.

I pulled my hand out of the container and saw my hand silky smooth and the wound out of sight. Surely this is not the same water or healing compound that Akashi used yesterday since the wound healed almost instantaneously.

It bothered me for a while but then Akashi came back seconds later with a glass of water and a pill box.

"Drink this, this should help you feel better." She said.

The pill had a sweet taste despite being a pill. Just as she stated the pill did in fact help me recover from my nausea.

"What did this pill do?" I asked her curiously.

"I call them blood pills. Although they were designed for shipgirls I think they should work on normal humans as well who is experiencing blood loss."

"You gave me an untested product again?!"

"It not an untested product if the shipgirls were already using it." Akashi replied with a pout.

"The 'I think they should work on normal humans' part Akashi!"

Like a person that has realized what she has done, Akashimade a makeshift smile and rubbed the back of her head.

"So care to explain why there's a knife wound on your hand?"

"Let's just say that a shipgirl had a bad hangover and decided to attack me. Anyhow what kind of compound is this? This is not the same water that you used yesterday right?"

Akashi let out a sigh and picked up the container containing the glowing green hue mixed with blood water and poured it on a dirty sink.

"I've finally finished improving the compound that Asahi and I invented. Let's just call it repair compound for now since its primary function is to repair wounded shipgirls."

I think I dislike the fact to call treating shipgirl wounds as repair rather than a straight out surgery. But who cares they are shipgirls after all, they are the incarnation of a former warship that joined in the First and Second World Wars.

"How did you make this amazing thing?"

Akashi made a smug then crossed her hands over her chest and made a triumphed pose.

"That's a secret only we repair shipgirls can share."

"And here I thought you were about to tell me how you made this revolutionary thing."

"Well this compound could only heal scars and wounds. Regenerating lost blood and known diseases it's practically useless."

Is that so? Kinda bummer when you think about it, if this miracle water is shared to the world wouldn't this become a high priced elixir that heals different kinds of scars and untreatable wounds?

"Anyhow, now that your hand is healed how about you vacate the shop? I still need to finish repairing the FAT torpedoes that the Kriegsmarine kindly gave to us."

"Well about that. There's also something I would like you to show."

Akashi paused from lifting up the pile of boxes near her workbench and turned towards my direction.

"If it's your dick, I wouldn't mind. But if it's not then I am busy."

"Despite being a repair shipgirl are you actually a closet pervert?!"

"NO and NO!"

With a sigh, Akashi picked up the box again and pulled out six torpedoes from the box.

"I found a very interesting shard near the beach just east from here. It's emitting a radioactive wave like plutonium and when I touched it, it would change size."

That was a blatant lie if you haven't noticed dear reader. Of course I needed something to persuade her and telling her sci-fi things would only make the persuading part authentic.

"Is-Is that so? Well checking it out wouldn't be a bad idea right?"

And she actually bit the bait?!


	15. Immature Being

**Immature Being**

So with that said I escorted her to the cavern that Hiryuu and I had a drink with.

Still resting on the pit is the black shard that was washed ashore.

"Just to be sure, you aren't armed right?"

"Yes, I am not armed."

"Okay, don't freak out or anything and just listen to the sound of mu voice lastly don't do anything harshly." I said to her with outmost certainty.

"Who do you think I am, Lieutenant?" Akashi retorted.

With that out of the way I picked up the shard and inserted it on my breast pocket. I haven't even raised my body yet when suddenly a neck choke came from my back.

"Ha! Who would've known that Fuck-san was actually an abyssal spy!"

"Goddamit, I forgot about the part where they can still do hand to hand combat!"

Akashi did not summon her riggings so she is basically a mere normal girl. With that in my head I grabbed her arms that was locked around my neck and pulled it downward. Akashi let out a loud cry as I forcibly escape myself from her grasps.

"You animal!" Akashi shouted.

But I wasn't done yet. I need to seize her chance of fighting back and to do that I just pinned her to the ground like Hiryuu.

"So-so, now that you have shown your real identity it looks like you are starting to become driven by your instincts. But I won't falter, just because I can't fight back that doesn't mean I am okay being raped by a male humanoid abyssal!" Akashi shouted while trying to escape my lock.

Jesus Christ, forgive me for I have sinned. Forgive me and this shipgirl who has been devoured by her own antics.

I removed the shard from my breast pocket and threw it on the side. After that Akashi suddenly stopped grunting her way out of my lock.

"Stop it you idiot, I am neither an abyssal nor an idiot who is being driven by my instincts!"

"Persuading me now wouldn't work, Abyssal-kun. I swear if I got out of here alive I will tell every single armed personnel in this Naval Base!"

Using my dominant hand I slapped her cheeks as hard as I could that my hands were stinging after I slapped her. Akashi's eyes widens from bafflement, unable to sink in what happened.

"Cut it out! I called you here to examine a shard that I discovered while I was washing my face on the ocean."

"Shard, what shard? Are you really persuading me with something that isn't even that acceptable logically?"

I was really pissed off by that statement and immediately stood up from her and walked towards the shard yet again.

With a cycle I would insert the shard on my breast pocket and then pulled it out. Based on observation, Akashi was probably beginning to understand what was going on.

"See? See?! This is the object I want you to examine since Hiryuu suddenly attacked me with a knife when I stuffed this inside my breast pocket!"

Akashi had a complicated expression on her face before she slowly stood up from the sand. I was still wary of her because we just had a fist fight a while ago. She walked towards me and slowly picked up the shard from my hand.

Immediately after that, her eyes darkened. Like the black sky during nighttime. She stared at the shard with widen eyes and red blood slowly sliding under her nostrils.

"Akashi?"

"Sink"

"Akashi?"

"Sink sink sink sink sink sink sink sink!" She repeated with an angst tone.

I took action and removed the black shard from the ground but Akashi fought back like she doesn't want the black shard to be taken from her. Out of options I pushed her to the ground and forcibly took the black shard. When I looked over at her hand it was already not the same.

Black blood veins started to become visible on her pale skin. Slowly they traced towards her elbow. Symbiotic looking worms were sticking out of her skin and blood pouring out of her pores. Her hair color was starting to change from the usual pink to a pale color.

I was conflicted on what to do. I did this to her and I need to do something about it.

"If this is like a zombie virus then I just need to cut off the already infected part."

With that in mind I unsheathed my combat knife and dismembered her arm right above her elbows. I had trouble breaking through the bone so I used my knee to forcibly fracture it off.

Akashi let out a loud cry. Red tears were slowly pouring out of her eyes. She was bleeding heavily and I could only use the cloth that I used to bandaged my wounded hand a while ago as first aid.

Wrapping it around the dismembered arm the bleeding started to slow down but Akashi was not starting to recover.

"What in a world did you do, Lieutenant? I feel nauseous and I could not feel my left hand." She said weakly.

"Akashi, don't look!"

I prevented her from raising her head. After I finished wrapping her arm I raised her on a princess carry and ran towards her shop.

"Uwah, I am being princess carried." She said weakly.

"Don't you dare close your eyes! We are going back to your shop."

I ran and ran while a trail of blood dripped under the soles of my boots.

I saw Hiryuu's figure in the distance closing in on my position. She was holding a first aid bag on her hand. She stopped running and stared at me with shocked eyes. I did not stop though, I ran passed her and stared at the two marine guards.

"Out of the way!" I shouted, and then knocked the two marine guards that were blocking my way.

As I ran, a couple of glances and empty stares would rain over me. A soldier ran to a telephone post and started shouting in Japanese.

The steel doors of her shop came to my attention. A group of shipgirls were standing there and a girl wearing a swimsuit glanced over me.

"Ah, Akashi where were you? I thought you are distributing the new FaT torpedoes today." She shouted before trailing off when she saw blood covering my cheeks and torso.

The submarine shipgirl that had a field cap that had a numerical designation of 1 indicates that she is I-1.

"Open the doors please. Akashi is bleeding heavily." I shouted in broken Japanese as I ran towards the steel doors.

The four shipgirls were stunned frozen unable to move an inch when they saw Akashi's wavering and bleeding body on my arms.

Not wanting to waste any more time I forcibly kicked the steel doors open.

"Akashi is there a tub here?!"

"Right beside the milling machine is a small dust tub. I think I just finished removing the metal chips." She replied faintly.

The milling machine was on the opposite side of the building. I ran towards there and saw the tub Akashi was talking about. I slowly put her there and ran outside.

I need to fill the tub with water first. I looked around the shop, inside and outside, and saw the closest water source to be placed at the back of the shop. I ran there and took an empty jerry can and filled it with water.

"Soldier-san, why is Akashi bleeding? I thought she—"

"If you had the time to leisurely waste how about you shut up and help me fill these jerry cans?!" I shouted back at her.

The swimsuit wearing shipgirl knitted her eyebrows and took a step back. I averted my eyes from her and focus on filling in the jerry cans. After filling them up I ran pass by her with two jerry cans full of water on my hands.

"Akashi? Akashi?!"

I placed the two fuel containers on the side and ran towards Akashi who was has already entered hypovolemic shock.

I did not have the time to waste.

Using my combat knife I tore a horizontal slice on the jerry can and water filled the tub. It was not enough though. The two containers were only able to drench her slightly.

"Dammit it's not enough."

I walked out again and again burrowing a hole on every jerry can that I stuffed with water and poured it on the tub. When the water level was already around Akashi's neck my job filling the tub with water has finished. Now the next problem is where she stored her repair compound.

I searched all over where she could've stored them. Under the tables, inside the boxes and even on the wall closets. There was no sign of the repair compound that she made.

"Akashi? Are you here? I've finished making another bucket full of the repair compound of yours." Came a woman' voice.

Wearing the same attire as Akashi but having a blue hair I ran towards her and grabbed the metal hanger of the bucket.

"Give me the bucket!" I said English.

"What?! Why is an army man doing here in Akashi's shop? Don't you know that this shop is a restricted area for you soldiers and if you don't get out now or remove your hand from this bucket you will face a death penalty. So I advise you to get out of this shop and get your filthy hands off this bucket!"

I remembered an old technique used by married JSDF soldiers in the army to shut up their wives. It is a swift and simple technique that does not require any effort whatsoever. And it is said that every Japanese wife would be immediately stunned and not a single word will be uttered for the next 24 hours.

Letting out a light sigh towards her red cheeks. I separated my lips from hers and took the bucket away from her hand.

Stunned, baffled, flabbergasted, disgusted or even fury emerged from her face but I was already away when she finally opened her mouth again.

"You pervert!"

Akashi's skin was already turning purple as every second goes by. It's still too early, how come she lost this so much blood? I said to myself.

The water was already tainted with her blood and what only remains now is to apply the bucket on the tub.

Slowly I poured the green compound on the tub and the red water and green compound mixed together.

There was no effect for almost a minute. Then the first signs of recovery became visible.

The first sign was her hair color returning its former color. Then her complexion turned normal. Lastly, I could see ripples forming under her nostrils.

She was breathing. She was finally breathing. A long sigh of relief came to me, a burden lifted. A bad conclusion averted. I sat on the dirty ground of the shop and leaned my back on an unknown mechanical machine.

"Thank god." I said under my breath.

I still need to make sure Akashi is okay so I stood up yet again and placed a finger under her neck. Her pulse was steady with that said I separated my hand from her neck and scratched the back of my head.

Then a loud clank entered my ears. I turned my head and saw the same woman standing stiffly and her eyes widen at the sight of Akashi resting on the tub.

"Akashi!" She shouted.

The woman rushed tub and shoved me away to the side. She then started doing checks on her. She discovered Akashi's dismembered arm and turned a murderous gaze at me.

With a screwdriver on her hand she pinned me on the wall while pointing the screwdriver's tip on my eye.

"Did you do this? Did you fucking do this?! Were you sent by the abyssals to sabotage us behind enemy lines?! Why are you just staring, answer me!" She shouted in Japanese.

Truth be told, I was only listening to her without understanding every single word she was saying. I averted her gaze and tried explaining to her in English. But it turns out that she was also not understanding a bit on what I was saying.

"Cut him some slack will you? He just recently saved me from death. Don't annoy my savior like that, Asahi."

"Akashi!" The woman named Asahi ran towards Akashi and embraced her.

"Move away already. Can't you see I am currently being treated?"

Asahi did not lend an ear at Akashi and continued embracing her.

"A word of thought, Lieutenant before you go."

Akashi stopped me from my tracks as I slowly walked towards the exit.

"What happened back there? I suddenly blacked out after I touched the black shard and I could not remember anything after that."

"You turned into something…... A word of thought though, you shall never pick up that shard again you hear me?" I said to her.

"Is that so? I would like to know what happened in detail but it turns out that isn't the case." Akashi made a downcast expression before making a nod at me. "Got it. You should change there's blood all over your body."

"Right, I hope for your immediate recovery. Now if you excuse me."

I said to her with a hand raised on the air. My immediate destination is the platoon quarters that I was transferred on to. I need a shower, there's blood all over me and if I let this stay any longer my whole body would stench badly.

With that said, I walked out from the shop and saw a crowd of shipgirls waiting outside.

Then Admiral Goto emerged out from the crowd and looked at me with a worried expression.

"What happen? I heard from the other shipgirls that Akashi was wounded and furthermore her left arm was dismembered."

"A shard, she touched a black shard placed near the cavern east from here. I discovered the shard and escorted her there for her to examine it. Her left hand was starting to change into something so out of instinct I immediately severed it off so that it wouldn't spread across her body."

"Is she fine though?" Kaga asked like a worried mother.

"Yes, she just recently recovered consciousness." I answered.

The shipgirls standing at the field were showing relieved expressions and some managed to utter a faint laugh.

"Thank goodness. You look tired, Lieutenant. How about taking a shower and have a good rest?" Admiral Goto said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll do just that." I said with a smile and saluted him.

Slowly, the group of shipgirls rushed inside the shop leaving Admiral Goto and me.

"If you feel recovered, report to my office. We need to talk what happened in detail together with Akashi." He said with a tired tone.

I nodded and walked pass by him. The direction I am heading is the shipgirl dormitory building. Just as speculated the building was empty so no one can see me in this bloodied situation that I was in.

"Ermest-san!"

I turned around and saw Hiryuu still holding the first aid bag on her hand. She was slowly approaching me and then grabbed my supposed to be wounded hand.

"Wha-how?" Hiyuu said in a surprised tone.

"Akashi treated it with a repair compound that she invented." I answered her.

Hiryuu turned my hand horizontally, tracing an index finger on my left hand. She then releases my hand and stared at my straight at the eye.

"You are fine, right?" She said softly.

"Yes, I am fine." I replied.

There was this seven second long pause before an audible word exited Hiryuu's lips. By the time she was able to say it loudly I was already facing my back to her.

"I must've been smelled badly. If you wanted to talk, talk to me later." I said before walking off.

"You are fine right?" She repeated.

I stopped and turned towards her. I tried my best making a good warm smile at her so that she would stop worrying over small things.

"Yes, I am fine." I repeated.

"Then why is your right hand shaking." She said.

I turned my attention at my right hand. My dominant hand, it was trembling uncontrollably and I could see my trigger finger twitching up and down. Using my left hand I squeezed my right hand and then stuffed it inside my pockets.

"Just a normal thing for me, it should calm down once I washed it with warm water…yes, it should calm down." I said to her.

Hiryuu walked again towards me, she stopped halfway as I pressed my hand on the door knob of my platoon quarters.

"Um—"

"Hiryuu, I will be requesting a weeklong of being alone for now….if you don't mind." I said to her as softly as I could.

"Alright" She replied.

But no matter how hard I tried saying it softly it would always sound harsh and cold. I turned the doorknob and entered inside my platoon quarters, as I slowly closed it I saw Hiryuu biting the lower part of her lips. Averting my eyes the door closed and not a single word was uttered again.

For now at least—


	16. Attack and Go

**Attack and Go**

"Around the flexor pollicis longus up until the Extensor carpi were the symbiotic like worms were emerging. These worms had black tissue and a large white head. When I tried touching it, it would immediately attack may hand as if it was provoked."

"Interesting"

"Certainly, this is good stuff Lieutenant. Were you this proficient in the field of science or did you just made a thorough summary about what really happened this morning." Akashi turned to my direction and started poking the back of my head.

"I graduated with a three year course on Kinesiology a long time ago back. Although I failed the National Licensure Exam they still let me keep my diploma." I said to her as I pack up the papers that I presented to Admiral Goto and the now recovered Akashi.

Staring at her now fully healed arm is really giving me the cold sensation at the back. Seeing it move again when it was dismembered right above the elbow this morning, who wouldn't feel disturbed by it?

"Looks like your repair compound did its job properly."

"Yes, although it did add an additional millimeter right around the wrist, though it's still better to have a disproportional arm than a dismembered one. Say-say didn't your resume say that you also graduated with an Engineering Degree? Were you really this smart this whole time?" Akashi pestered me at my side.

Letting out a sigh, I turned my attention at Admiral Goto who was lighting a cigarette stick. Turning his head to the side a puff of smoke exited his mouth before he turned his attention back at me.

"Well at least the main problem has been averted. I wouldn't want to lose my repair ships just because we found something from the ocean and somehow it did something to their bodies."

"Tehehe—"Akashi rubbed the back of her head.

"Anyway, Akashi that would be all for now. Ah, before you go Lieutenant I would like to have a word with you if you don't mind."

Humming behind me Akashi waved her hand before closing the wooden double doors. I scratched the back of my neck, anticipating a good scolding from the Combined Fleet Admiral.

"You did recover the black shard right? I would like to have that shard examined by my Research Detachment right this instant. This could be a newly developed anti-shipgirl weapon by the abyssals or maybe even worse."

"Yes, I placed the shard inside a glass container and handed it over when there are no shipgirls around. Well at least having human researchers take a tap of this is reliable than having a repair shipgirl from another nation examine it."

Admiral Goto placed his burning cigarette at the ash tray and stared beyond the setting horizon of Yokosuka.

"You know, Lieutenant. I really think that this war is not turning its favor to us." Admiral Goto said with a distant stare.

"What makes you say that sir?"

"You see, Lieutenant. Once a thing has been invented for example a battleship our enemies will try it's best to examine our battleship; gather intel about it and eventually devise a cunning counter for it."

"So you are telling me that the Abyssal's have finally found a solution about the shipgirl threat that they are facing?" I said to him blindly.

"Not yet, but they do have these." Admiral Goto replied.

Admiral Goto booted his laptop and turned its monitor to my direction. Displayed on the screen is a picture of a 50 foot leviathan. It had long tentacles to support its weight and it had a large ginormous mouth.

"Sweepers. Who would have thought we might catch a glimpse of these doctrine smashing monsters." I said to him with a scorn.

"Thick armor, long ten ton tentacles and a drone capacity of more than 100; even the Russians called them Ochistiteli Boga or Purifiers of God. Right now these 50 foot leviathans are designated as To-type."

Admiral Goto pressed the power button of his laptop and lowers the screen. He then turns his attention to me who was standing in front of his desk in full attention.

"Are you proposing that my platoon must destroy one of those?" I said to him frankly but he turned his head to the side and then took his cigarette.

"No, you wouldn't last a second in front of those monsters. I am just telling you that a new type have finally emerged at the battlefield. Currently those To-types are only seen in Europe but who knows, we might encounter one here in Japan."

True, using our outdated weapons and tactics we wouldn't even last long once those monsters emerged from the seas and start terrorizing the land. Tanks, missiles and even the newly invented AT-200's and 600's wouldn't make a difference.

"So back to main topic, I believe you still haven't gathered your men correct?"

"Yes unfortunately. There's been a lot of things that's preventing me from gathering my men. Ah, tomorrow I will gather up the men and straighten them out. I just need to finish up the transfer paper works and the EDP will be fully operational."

Admiral Goto nodded and then placed a notepad in front of me. It was written in English and the title says 'New Weapons Development Research' on the cover.

"I've also finalized the list of weapons that I want you to test out once you gather up your men. Don't worry though, all of them are promising and preliminary testings revealed that they are _practically_ usable, whatever that means. The only problem though is their implementation of primary function which is penetrating Abyssal Armor."

I took the notepad and read the weapons that were listed on the notepad. Large caliber guns, small caliber guns, shoulder fired weapons and a plasma type weapon….wait they actually built a plasma weapon?! Oh I can't wait to try that.

"Oh, not the plasma weapon though that one exploded when we tried firing it on a stationary ballistic object. The first weapon listed though is very promising."

I flipped back to the first page and saw the weapon Admiral Goto was talking about. Designated name was StA409 Keyzer assault rifle designed by a weapons company named Steyr Mannlicher.

It had the same resemblance and the same silhouette like the French made Famas but the orange plastic made magazine was its striking point….no, that's not it.

"APA rounds? Are you shitting me?" I said to Admiral Goto unknowingly.

"No, they do fire the newly invented experimental APA rounds that the Russians are currently experimenting on. Since the StA 409 is capable of reducing the recoil and the in-built gas compressor for barrel cooling was a wonderful addition the APA rounds are the prime candidates for these bad boys."

The technical aspects of the StA 409 consist of a proprietary gas system to avoid malfunctions and a short-stroke piston driving an operating rod to force the bolt carrier to the rear. This design prevents combustion gases from entering the weapon's interior, a shortcoming with direct impingement systems. These features increase the reliability and decreases the cleaning time of the weapon. Or whatever that means on a technical level, I lowered my gaze and red the other specifications.

The weight was only sitting between five kilograms unloaded and 5.7 kilograms loaded with the 75 round magazine drum. The gun is capable of firing a sustained burst of 850 rounds per minute making it almost on par with a LVOA-C. I wonder what kind of recoil I am going to experience once I fire them myself. This beast is basically a machine gun on an AR platform, Jesus what kind of engineering terms were used on making this thing?!

The thoughts of a broken shoulder blade and a numbing shoulder were surfacing inside my head, added by the fact that the APA rounds had an abysmal recoil feedback and a lowered firing rate due to the fact that these rounds are loaded with a different kind of powder and the cycling rate was too slow.

Seriously how come Russia has been on the leading edge on Futuristic technology and the western powers left on the 21st Century? The Russians had 'Titans' a 24 foot ROBOT that could carry an automatic cannon that could fire a 75mm or maybe a 120mm projectile. They are purposely made to counter Cha-type abyssals and Hu-type abyssals but when it comes to the Ku, Ro, and lastly Ka which are designated as Heavily Armored Abyssals or HAA's they are practically useless.

These Titans are built to replace the outdated T-100 tanks of the Russian Army, since tanks are now practically useless when an Abyssal attack is occurring the proposal of having a _mobile tank capable of supporting ground troops while at the same time provide direct heavy fire support_ sure does sound _interesting._

As of now the Russian Army currently has 200 Titans at their disposal and is being deployed on the Europa Frontline in Europe. As of now that frontline has just recently shifted when Paris fell just a month ago during a major offensive operation done by the Abyssal Army. A total of 500 divisions were lost from European Alliance.

The Europa Frontline is 777.81 miles long. The first tip stretches from a small bridge of Nates up to the city of Courtenay then stretches east to Luxemburg city then to the city of Frankfurt before proceeding north at Hamburg.

Just as you imagine the scale of the battle in Europe is enormous and bloody. Every month there will be a battle survey on the Europa line and the casualties are staggering. After the major abyssal offensive on Paris a total of 55 million soldiers died and 600 million wounded on single week. Garrison troops were hastily rushed to the frontlines to cover up the gaps. Luckily when the Titans arrived at the frontline the abyssal offensive stopped and the old _hold the line_ phrase repeated itself.

Seriously what Admiral Goto said a while ago is stinging me behind the back. Our guns can't penetrate heavy abyssal armor and the Hu-types are just too many for our munitions industry to handle. Heck the steel, copper and lead prices in this country are already raising due to the fact that we are consuming too much ammo just for a single Hu-type. I'm not even including the amount of ammo we are wasting on denting a Cha-type armor or even those Ka-types. Their armor is just too thick for us to even do something. True 160mm Howitzer rounds could damage them but how are you going to transport those large artillery pieces?

Logistics, Logistics, Logistics; damn thinking about these strategically is already giving me headaches. I wonder if ever Commander Crisanto is alright on his end.

"Lieutenant? You seem to be spacing out." Admiral Goto called.

"Oh, ah it's nothing."

Admiral Goto rested a hand under his chin and then grabbed the notepad from his desk and placed it inside his cabinet.

"You will be sent on the Kyushu operating area to test out the first weapon on the list which is StA 409 assault rifle as well as its experimental cartage the 7.62mm APA rounds."

"Well I just hope these guys won't fail on me once we get there."

"Nah, I've had my researchers pass me a report about reliability and they are pretty reliable." Admiral Goto reaffirmed. "Also, A week from now we will be performing Operation Overlord."

"A week from now? Isn't it just too sudden?!"

"You and I have the same thought, but the Japanese Diet wanted the East, West and newly formed Southern armies to attack next week because we are detecting a large abyssal concentration from the East China Sea and if we don't initiate the operation now, who knows what kinds of enemies we will be facing if that large concentration of abyssals reach the Kyushu operating zone."

"But we are still unprepared. Even you know that! If we initiate the operation on retaking the Kyushu Islands early, wouldn't our forces be decimated due to the fact that we are still unprepared and most of our soldiers don't even have ammo on their rifles?!"

"I know but we are in no position to make a counter argument. The Armed Forces; air, sea and land are still under the commands of the Commander in Chief, Shinto Abe. If he commands us to initiate Operation Overlord with the permission of the current Emperor Naruhito then there is nothing we can do. "Admiral Goto pinched the bridge of his nose and placed his navy cap on the table.

"But still—"

Admiral Goto raised his hand in the air. Out of respect I immediately closed my mouth and didn't proceed on making an argument with the admiral.

"I am only a mere naval officer commanding a fleet of girls armed to the teeth. When it comes to politics and power, I am only a dust in the bin. I hope you also realize your place in this, Lieutenant."

Politics, always with politics. Still, I am not a native of this land of course I could only follow orders given by my commanding officer and the grand commander of this country. Disrespecting those said orders would just get me jailed or worst shot.

"Also while you are doing the testings on Kyushu I will be also giving you an additional objective once Operation Overlord commences."

Admiral Goto took a paper from his desk and placed it on front of my view. It was a picture of a humanoid abyssal facing its back at the camera. It had a long black vest-like garment which is similar to a jacket and a blue sailor hat. It also had a pale white hair similar to a Wo-class abyssal carrier.

"You will bring this abyssal, alive." Admiral Goto said in a clear tone.


	17. Remembered

**Remembered**

Today is Thursday, like most Thursdays the train station towards Tokyo was heavily crowded. I can't even believe that I am granted leave by the Japanese diet.

Is it unusual you ask? Well it is unusual since I am the watcher and commanding officer of the combined fleet after all. I have to babysit over 445 shipgirls, yes a new one has been summoned but we will get to that later.

"Honey, do you think then train roof is just too short?"

"No that is not the train roof's fault you are just tall." I replied immediately.

"She is not that tall honey, she is just 180 centimeters. That's like the same height as a female volleyball player."

"Alright, it's the train roof's fault after all."

Accompanying me with my little vacation, specifically a four day three night's vacation is Kaga, Fuso and Yahagi.

I took the liberty of bringing Yahagi along since she is a newly summoned shipgirl after all. She needs to learn about the new modern Japan and the new advances of technology.

"Admiral since when did trains became this fast? I could see the mountains chasing us!"

"Yahagi stop leaning on the window!" Fuso yelled and pulled Yahagi's back collar from the window.

Of course I also made sure that Yahagi would wear a good set of morally acceptable set of clothes, that job falls on Fuso who is currently tending Yahagi's curiosity urges.

"Honey, I really think bringing Yahagi along is a pretty bad idea." Fuso turned towards my direction and made a worried expression

"I have plans for her, honey, so please watch over her for a while."

"Alright."

"Hey how come you are calling Fuso, honey, and you don't call your first wife as, honey."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and pressed a finger on Kaga's side. She made a faint yelp before making a displeased expression.

"You need to stop being jealous over everything, Kaga." Fuso replied as she fixes her long sleeves. "I should be the one being envious since you got the title of first wife...how I wished more misfortunes to rain on you-"

"Fuso you need to stop praying for misfortunes on your rivals. We all know how powerful your misfortune spell is."

"Okay."

"Admiral since when did having two wives became normal?" Yahagi came to my side and rested her hands on my left arm.

"Four years ago, Yahagi. Four years ago." I replied.

With a light bump the train made a slight jerk to the side saying that we have arrived at Kasai Train Station. I haven't been in the city for four years now. I wonder what has change.

The train doors opened slowly and a line of strangers were already waiting for our exit. I got out first then my two wives and assistant followed. A bell ringed and the lined strangers entered the train slowly.

"Since when did boarding courtesy become common?" I said while staring at the formally line civilians.

"Boarding courtesy?" Yahagi asked.

"It's called following rules Yahagi, a year prior the so called 'boarding courtesy' isn't even practiced. People would just storm the train once the doors opened." Fuso explained.

And since when did Fuso knew about the modern Japanese society when she didn't even set foot on the capital?

"Honey, where did you learn about this?" I turned towards her.

"The so called _world wide web_ , I've learned a lot of things about human courtesy to male fetishes...if you want I could make a wild guess about your own personally fetishes."

"No-no, I wouldn't want anyone knowing about my fetishes."

"Ooyodo already knew, so why not us?" Kaga said at my side.

Dammit Ooyodo, why do you always spill everything?!

Letting out a sigh we walked out of the station and called a taxi. Since Kaga and Fuso where having troubling fitting themselves inside the small cab I was forced to ride on a separate taxi. I told the driver the address of our destination as well as a parting notice.

"If both of my wives don't arrive there safely you will face a death penalty, you hear me? Also don't even try snapping a picture of them. Yahagi, keep an eye of him." I said as coldly as I could.

Yahagi and the young driver nodded simultaneously. I closed the front seat door and gave them a wave of my hand.

Having done that I called another taxi and told him about the destination. A vibration then came to my pocket. I inserted my hand there and took my phone out.

"Ooyodo, what's wrong?" I said softly as I closed the taxi door.

"Nothing, I just wanted to know whether the four of you are alright. You arrived at Tokyo safely I assume." She said softly.

A smirk managed to emerge out of my lips as I listened to her worried voice.

"What? After all these years you finally decided to show your feminine side?" I said to her jokingly.

"Arimato please don't tease me. You too well how of a worrywart I am when you are not around. Anyway, the girls here are doing fine. Mutsuki and her expedition fleet just arrived with the transport ships from China. Also, your second lieutenant has been pretty busy organizing his new platoon."

"Oh, he has already started preparations? How vigilant of him." I said to her in praise. "Of course he will be vigilant. We are sending him behind enemy lines tomorrow. Of course he would be doing his very best to prepare his platoon."

Ah right, I forgot about that. Maybe I should've moved the schedule so that the second lieutenant wouldn't feel pressured.

"Can you postpone the mission for me?" I asked Ooyodo.

"And betray the hard work that the second lieutenant is doing to his men? Of course no, honey." She replied in a displeased tone.

"Maybe you're right. Anyway did the StA 409 that I ordered arrive together with the transport ships from China?"

"Yes, Asahi is currently distributing the rifles to the second lieutenant's men. Wait, Asahi is doing something...she is shooting the second lieutenant. I am sorry Arimato but I have to go, say hello for mother and father for me!"

"Ooyodo? What did she do? Ooyodo?!"

"Sir, we have arrived at your destination." The driver said to me.

Unable to receive any additional answer I inserted the phone back to my pockets and gave the driver my payment and exited the taxi. Waiting for me outside is the old wooden gate of my home. It's an old fashioned mansion made of wood and is facing peacefully at Nagisa Park. The lot we owned is actually huge, grandpa even managed to make a natural pool at the backyard.

After all, he owned this large piece of land ever since the second great war.

"The taxi arrived quicker than expected." Fuso said with a wary smile.

"The young driver didn't even receive our payment, how rude of him." Kaga said blankly.

The two of you must've scared the shit out of that driver. Well to be honest it must've been my warning that scared him the most.

"How weird" Yahagi said faintly.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

Yahagi turned her head side to side and then pointed an index finger on the doorbell.

"What is this?"

"It's a doorbell. It's like an automatic knock but instead of a simple hand knock it makes a chime inside the house." I explained to her.

Yahagi had a confused expression on her face. I did not have the urge to repeat what I had already said to I pressed the doorbell.

"How weird, the bell should've been audible from here."

We waited for about twelve seconds before the wooden gate finally opened. With a smile on his face my grandfather greeted me.

"Ah, if it isn't Arimato-kun! Come-come, your mother is the only one at home right now… My-my who are these lovely ladies? I did not expect you to be that of a player, Arimoto-kun." My grandfather slapped my rugged back while at the same time making a wide smile at Kaga, and Fuso.

When I glanced at them I could see both of them blushing while averting eye contact from my grandfather. Oh, don't do that!

"Anyway, let's get inside and have a good talk with tea and snacks. Although this month is December the winter solstice haven't arrived yet. Hmm, maybe because of the _great greenhouse effect_ , oh well who cares about that."

"When it comes to cold I am actually pretty resistant. If you want I could warm you up right now with my body heat." Kaga whispered on my ears.

Anyhow, the house was the same as ever. The same wooden floors; same wooden roof; same wooden rooms, it was as if I never left the house at all.

Just as grandfather said Oka-san was in the kitchen making something. Cooking utensils and spices were placed on the large table behind her. Slowly I approached her, she does not know I have a break after all.

With a warm embrace, Oka-san suddenly made a quick light jump before making a sigh of relief as she realized it was just me.

"You idiot, can't you see I'm cooking here?" She yelled with utter fury.

"My bad, I did not expect you to be in a bad mood." I replied with a smile and then walked away.

"And who do you think is the reason why I had a bad case of afternoon fury?!"

Stop pointing the knife edge on me already. I get it, yes I will not do it again so stop pointing that thing over my nose.

"Seriously, I thought the navy already fixed that troublemaker attitude of yours. But it turns out they failed, miserably." She made an outcast expression on the butcher's knife that was placed on the sink.

Oka-san, please contain your urges!

With the hairs of my body on full alert, I rested my hand on her shoulders and said in a soft voice.

"I am glad you are safe."

Oka-san made a sidelong pout as I tried changing the topic. Since when did you copy Kasumi's attitude?

"Oka-san, come to the living room. They are waiting for you."

With a curious expression she turned the stove off and walked towards the living room. Where Kaga, Fuso and Yahagi are talking faintly while sipping some tea that grandpa made.

With just a single glance mother dropped the scapula to the ground and made a gaze towards me.

"Since when did you have three girls following you around? With the yakuza like face of yours, I say I am impressed."

Don't shun me already! Have a little faith with your son once in a while.

Slowly, Kaga was the first one to get up from the couch and made a modest bow at Oka-san.

"Nice to you meet you, mother in law. I am Kaga, your son's first wife."

Then Fuso stood up and made a bow as well.

"I am Fuso, your son's fourth wife."

After she finished listening to their interactions, Oka-san grabbed the dropped spatula and slammed it at the middle of my forehead.

"You-you! I raised you right, I raised you with proper manners and your father raised you like a proper man. So explain this right now!"

I knew I shouldn't have brought Fuso along! But I need someone to look after Yahagi who is new to the newly developed Japan, since Kaga is bad at babysitting.

"Oka-san, please calm down. Please give us a chance to explain so stop hurting your son." Kaga said softly as she rests a hand on Oka-san's wrist.

"Kaga-san was it? Please don't stop me from teaching this man about manners. This is for your own good after all." Oka-san said softly as she prepared a powerful attack.

"Oka-san please. Arimato did nothing wrong. He was just doing his job as an admiral as well as being a proper husband of his five wives." Fuso stopped Oka-san' hand and explained as softly as she could.

Oka-san, being a proper wife like any other Japanese wife all over japan released the spatula from her hand. Mother slowly peeled off Fuso and Kaga's hands and entered the kitchen. When she came back the butcher's knife was already attached on her palms.

"Oka-san!" I yelped trying to peel off the butcher's knife away from her hand.

~o~

"Ko-kun" A woman's voice entered his ears. It was a deep female's voice. With smile on his face the 124 year old war veteran, Goto Mitsuo turned his head towards the owner of the said female's voice.

Wearing a black jacket and red scarf the shipgirl named Yahagi made a worried expression towards the old man.

"Ko-kun? I...I've never been called by that name for a very long time." Mitsuo stared blankly at the river.

A tear slowly emerged from Mitsuo's eyes. His hand trembling and face unable to retain the smile.

"I am so sorry that I failed to protect you from that war. With all my being as a sailor of that war, I am terribly sorry."

Slowly, Yahagi kneeled down next to Mitsuo and gave him a warm embrace.

"You've done your best, Ko-kun." Slowly, Mitsuo's slow cries became a progressive cry.

"You've already turned to a fine woman." He said with a joke.

"Mitsuo, you should already stop with that playboish talk of yours. You are already old, you should be laying back." She replied.

"Oh dear, it looks like my unending ways of winning a girl over is still not rusty."

Yahagi separates herself from Mitsuo and sat next to him.

"I've already memorized all of your phrases ever since you've been working as an AA operator on my warship body."

A smile managed to emerge from Mitsuo's face.

"So you've been listening to our banters back then? Well I don't think so Yahagi, as years went by my Love Dictionary is also updated." He replied as he wiped a tear from his eyes.

"I can hear every single dialogue my sailors were talking about when I was still a warship. I bet you used that love dictionary of yours to win yourself a wife."

Mitsuo made a faint chucker as he slouch his shoulders and stared at the small natural pool on his backyard.

"Hehehe, she was a tough one indeed. You know what, how about I tell you the story on how I won my wife over." Mitsuo smiled once more before uttering the last story he has ever shared for the past 124 years.


	18. Prologue End

**Prologue; End**

* * *

 **Early Morning of December 20, 2050**

I did what I could do with the men. I formed up fireteams, managed to gave each soldier a job in the platoon and assigned squadron leaders that are capable of handling the diverse group of soldiers.

Tomorrow will be our very first mission, tomorrow will be our baptism of fire. The thought of me not coming back with my men is present, as well as me the only one coming back alive while the soldiers under me die on that part of Japan. My plan for today is debriefing my men on the upcoming mission as well formalizing contingency plans if ever everything goes sideways.

I entered my platoon's room which was just located in front of my own room and bust it open with a strong kick breaking the lock of the said door. Yesterday I clearly told them not to lock the door because I will be coming in early. The reason being that they locked the door every single damn time is because those pesky Destroyer Escorts would sneak in by midnight and prank us while we are dozing off.

One idiot got the brightest idea to put a bear trap behind the entrance to teach those pesky DE's not to sneak in again, instead the one that was caught by that bear trap was Admiral Goto's scary secretary Kaga. She personally gave each of us a good jabbing after that.

"Who the fuck forgot to unlock the fuckin door?!" I yelled inside the room.

Unfortunately for me I could not see any of my men inside the room. It was deserted as hell. Though I could still see their belongings and their beds neatly folded on their respective bunks.

"Where the fuck did they go?" I asked myself as I stormed out of their room and went to the dormitory's entrance.

Sitting on the walk path is a tall cruiser with a black hair tied into a ponytail. She wore this very short looking sailor's uniform with matching white gloves on her hands. She was drinking a can of beer and a box full of emptied beer cans could be seen placed a step underneath her.

The shipgirl then looked at my general direction with her bright red eyes. A raised eyebrow and a 'Ha?' later she stood up and squared up in front of me. The shipgirl in question then saluted to me before grabbing me by the neck and pulling me closer.

She was muttering in broken Japanese, and her grip was so strong that I could feel my trachea closing by the second. Out of options, I leaned back my right arm and burrowed my elbow on her Solar Plexus. The shipgirl let out a pained grunt before letting go of my neck. She kneeled on the concrete floor before vomiting the contents of her stomach out into the ground.

"What the fuck...?" I asked myself while staring at the vomiting shipgirl.

After a few seconds the shipgirl fell into the ground and into the puddle of her own vomit. I said to myself, _"_ Jesus..." before kneeling next to the shipgirl and placing my hand on her neck noticing her pulse to be slow.

With a sigh I placed both of my hands on her arms and tried raising her to her feet. Noticeably though I noticed that I was able to lift her, she weighed around 50 kilograms or more but it was manageable. I then swung her left arm over my neck and carried her inside the Shipgirl Dormitory.

The woman on the counter gave me a very disturbed and wary look. I said to her, "I found her drunk outside...Will you tend her since you work here after all..?"

The girl nodded and approached me before taking the tall shipgirl from me and escorted her somewhere.

"A newly summoned shipgirl?" I asked myself.

Usually newly summoned shipgirls tend to do stupid things like jumping off a cliff to test if they really feel pain or hang themselves because they don't want to live in this world anymore. But majority of them just drink a lot of beer until they feel talking again.

Letting out a sigh, I came into terms with that encounter and focused on the present problem. Finding where in a world did my men went.

The logical place for me to search first is the camp where all of the 501st soldiers are gathered. When I arrived there soldiers from Easy Company were playing _Bahao-Bahao._ It's a common game back on my homeland where a team of multiple players would choose a certain tree or pole. There are two teams and each team must have their own tree or pole, that acts as their base. The objective of this game is to reach a score of ten or more until the other team would say they are tired. Think of it as _a game of tag_ but this one has this annoying tree that we must touch to score a point.

If you are caught by the other team then you are declared as _dakpan_ or tagged. You are now a prisoner of the opposite team and if your teammates managed to touch you without the opposite team noticing then you are freed and you must make sure that you reach your team's tree without being caught by the opposite team again or you will be _terminated_ from the game permanently.

I watched them play as I passed by a soldier's back. There's a lot of them participating in this game. Like each team has around twenty members. It's really chaotic where I can't even tell who's team is that guy or that guy.

The other team in particular that had their base on a flagpole that has the Japanese Flag flying on it and has around eight prisoners. Like how did they managed to get that many?

I shook my head as I arrived at Una Company's area and found Bex cleaning the dishes again.

"What brings you here?" He asked.

I waved a hand at him before sighing. I then sat on a round rock just a few feet behind him and asked him a series of questions.

"I was looking for my men. Have you seen any of them?"

Bex turned around and gave me a frown. He then laughs loudly that it annoyed the hell out of me.

"Here you are a commanding officer, unable to find a single soldier from his own platoon.I mean how could you lose like ten soldiers?"

I clicked my tongue and said, "I did not loose them. In fact the moment I entered their room they are gone. Although their belongings are still there." I said.

Bex rested a foaming hand underneath his cheek and started staring at the sky. I could hear him faintly mumbling as I waited for him to speak once more.

With both of his eyes closed he then placed his right hand on his side then saying, "Well I did saw some of your soldiers walking towards the edge of this base. Were they wearing a modified flecktarn uniform?"

I gave him a nod. What in a world are they doing at the edge of the base? True the white sandy beach is beautiful to see, plus if you go there early in the morning the scenery you would see is phenomenal.

"But what in a world are they even doing at there?" Bex asked.

I gave him a shrug and stood up. Facing his general direction, Bex then fell silent as he stared back at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Say, Crisanto told me that tomorrow you and your mini experimental platoon will be sent there to test out these _weapons_ that are said to take out the abyssals in ease. If that is true then take care of yourself yeah? We still have a lot of things to do until we get home." He said to me with a sentimental tone.

I gave him a smug and said, "Here you are being sentimental with me. Let me guess you lost to a poker game with Galius and the others right?"

Bex let out a scoff and said, "Sharp as ever. But seriously though, don't get yourself killed there first." Before doing what he was doing a while ago, washing the dishes.

"Same to you. Because if I do come back with my men alive, _all_ of us will be rushing into that region." I said as I walked pass him.

I could hear him let out a sigh and then yelled, "Good hunting, Fuck-san!"

I just casually gave him the middle finger.

Around 8:30 in the morning, I found myself sitting on the white sandy beach just outside the naval base. A few feet away are screaming soldiers from my platoon. They were not screaming to death but rather they are screaming in excitement. Why you ask?

"Come-on, LT! Join us!" Screamed Val who had a volleyball on his hand.

I waved my hand on him gesturing him to _fuck off_ in a polite manner. It's not that am bad at playing sports, its actually because these bastard didn't even invite me in the first place.

"Are you sure, Lieutenant? We could use another teammate though!" Asked a red or pink haired shipgirl that was wearing a tight swimsuit.

"Yeah, I dun wanna play." I said to her.

The shipgirl just shrugged and walked away with Val.

"Seriously this is the first time I've seen a beach volleyball with more than six players." I said.

"Well everyone wanted to play so a compromise was made." Vas who was sitting next to me said casually while leaning his neck to the side and both of his arms placed on the white sand like a slanted pillar carrying the weight of his whole body.

"Why aren't you playing with them?" I asked.

"Cause I suck at sports." He answered directly.

"I never knew you were bad at sports, Vas. Even though you were under my commands ever since Captain Del Pillar died." I said to him with a rather surprised tone.

Vas let out a sigh as he grabbed a scarf from his pockets and placed it over his head. He then rested the back of his head on the sand and said, "Because most of the time we are either shooting abyssals or jerking off to some Japanese Porn."

Well to be honest I don't need Japanese Porn to jerk off on my free time. I mean who can blame me? What really kills a soldier doing his work is boredom and waiting. Boredom is a dangerous thing, it makes you become complacent; it makes you stupid. And waiting, now that's a whole different thing.

You gotta do something to remedy these two or else, you'll be groaning until the next firefight comes.

"LT, I'm gonna get a short nap. We've been up since four and the fuckers were not to kind on let me nap while they fuck around at the beach." Vas said immediately letting out a snore.

What the hell did these guys do while I was dozing off? I hope they didn't do something stupid that might alert the Admiral or Crisanto. The least thing I would want is a long seminar with them

~o~

 **9:30 A.M**

 **Debriefing Room Inside the Shipgirl Dormitory**

I just shook my head as I watched them enter the room with complacent strides. The clanking sound of the chairs being pulled back and the muttering voices of my men echoed inside the room.

"Now that everyone's here, kindly shut your mouths and listen." I announced.

Somehow the atmosphere inside the room changed. Like a flick of my fingers the casual atmosphere became heavy and serious. Every single one of my soldiers were staring at me, waiting for me to continue with the briefing.

"As you may have already known by now all sixteen of us will be sent behind enemy lines to scout the landing areas for next week's grand offensive. We have two main objectives over there. One putting C4's on static gun emplacements that are dormant in the evening, but active in the morning; two, placing strobes on Abyssal Spawns just south of the port." I started pulling down a satellite map that was rolled and pinned on the green board behind me.

"I figure that we will also be bringing the new toys that Akashi reveled to us a day before?" Asked my second in command Lomo who is in-charge of 1st Squad.

"We won't be bring the super heavy guns just the rifles, strobes, Akashi's C4's, and one 50-cal." I elaborated.

Pulling a bright green marker I then started putting numbers on the map.

"First squad will be trailing along the tree line here, south of the quarry. Your jobs there are locating Abyssal Spawns as well as gathering data by putting a beacon near the supposed airfield that was debriefed on us a few days back."

I then wrote another number using a blue marker.

"Second Squad, that's you Etnaz, will go down to the port itself and plant the C4's on the static gun emplacements that has been spotted a day prior." I then wrote ten X's along the port."

Lastly with a red marker I then draw two parallel lines on the road leading to the port itself.

"While third Squad, that's Borneo's boys will be in-charge on assembling the automated 50-cal on the road leading to the port proper. That crossroad near the Kamiji Moji branch's second warehouse must be held until I give the order to withdraw." I said with while drawing three arrows indicating where the rendezvous point will be located, "Once all objectives are completed, I want all of you to gather here in this small fishing port for extraction via speedboat."

A single hand then rose up among the staring soldiers, it was Mop's hand.

"So will we going in by speedboat as well and disembark there?" He asked.

"No," I gave him a direct answer, "We will be dropping in by chopper."

The expression of the others immediately grimed. I could hear them mumbling, whispering just how bad this operation was.

"Basically a suicide mission." Lomo stated.

I gave him a nod and the others just...starting groaning.

"I can't believe I wrote my name on that insurance paper for this shit." One soldier said from the back.

"I guess we will be the first ones to die among countless others for next week's offensive." Another added.

I raised my hand and yelled, "Settle down! Settle down! Look this is not my idea to begin with. This is Admiral Goto's plan."

"Jesus we let an office guy make the decision and not the ones that will be inserted there?" Mountain asked.

I just sighed on that one, as what Admiral Goto said yesterday; _I will be doing the planing for tomorrow just get your platoon squared up!_

 _"_ Look if you don't want to do this then the exit's just on the corner. The pay check, new equipment, and the insurance paper, all of it were indications that only fate will dictate if tomorrow's operation will be successful or not. If you don't wanna be part of this then I will ask Admiral Goto to find another. But keep in mind if you back out now, a lot preparation that's going to be done for next week will be affected until a new replacement is found." I said to them my both of my hands crossed, "Furthermore...as dirty as it sounds, you might get the Imperial Guards chasing your ass for impeding the upcoming major offensive. So decide now, if you wanna go tomorrow or not." I added.

None of them were facing to my direction, they were probably busy thinking about how to back-out from this. Some of them probably are already thinking on how to go AWOL after backing-out.

Either way, all of them decided to proceed for tomorrow's operation.

I just bit the lower part of my lip, wondering how am I going to get these boys back home in once piece.

"Get some rest or do practice if you want. Be up by 20:10, dismissed."

"LT!" Kilogram had his hand raised and then asked, "If we go in by air. Are we getting some air cover or-"

"According to our boss...he'll do something about the abyssal planes on the miniature airfield and our air cover."

~o~

 **ADMIRAL GOTO'S OFFICE**

 **9:30 A.M**

"Hence why I assembled all of the Combined Fleet's carriers for this operation. I want all available planes to take off and plaster that airfield to submission. After that I want all of you to lure the surviving abyssal planes away from drop zone just long enough for them to safely drop off." He explained.

A combination of more than 20 Carriers, including the light and escort variants. A total number of planes around 800+ just for a single day. Truth be told Admiral Goto's ammunition and fuel storage were already at its dangerous level and it will be depleted for the next six days just for this operation and the success for tomorrow and next week's grand offensive is dependent on the outcome of tomorrow's operation if they can retake the Kyushu or lose a lot of soldiers and equipment.

"I understand, Admiral." Kaga said with a confident tone, "We'll plaster that airfield to kingdom come."

~o~

 **December 21, 2050**

 **Yokosuka Naval Base Airfield**

The day of my first assignment as a platoon commander under the commands of Admiral Goto came.

The time was 01:16 in the morning and the rest of my soldiers have already finished packing the equipment that were issued to us. Specifically the Austrian made rifle named StA 40, strobes, and the portable .50cal machine gun.

However before we could disembark, Akashi gathered us to her workshop and started distributing boxes full of 8.02mm rounds with a red paint on the tip.

"What is this about?" I asked her.

"Replace all of your cartages with these. Those 7.62mm APA rounds won't penetrate abyssal armor, these can." She replied with a smug written all over her face.

"Huh? Are you telling me that we were almost sent there to the other side without any chance of us coming back?!" Pfc. Benedict Ursal yelled while staring at the boxes full of Akashi's cartages.

"You might not believe me but trust me as a shipgirl who fixes shipgirl armaments and wounds. I don't want my savior to be coming back inside a body bag." She said with a confident tone.

"I sense ulterior motives on that sentence, LT." Pfc. Pura Robrido said softly to my side.

"I can see that, Pura. So, are these cartages compatible with the rifles that we are issued? I don't want to be cycling my cocking handle every time I fire my rifle."

Akashi took one cartridge and leveled it around my nose.

"These are compatible. The recoil is even more manageable like an AR-15 on full auto housed inside a much more powerful-bigger cartage.."

Beside me is the Team leader of first squad, Sergent Lomo Rego. He knelled down to the box and started removing the orange polymer drum magazines from his vest and piece by piece, removed the cartages inside the drum magazine.

"If Akashi said that these bullets can kill abyssals might as well try it out." He said with a cold stare to his rifle.

It was not long when the other soldiers present in the room started unpacking their magazines. I could hear bullets pinging on the ground and the sounds of the magazine spring clicking when the cartages are inserted inside.

"It looks to me that you are waiting for me to react." I raised my head and said that to Akashi who was making a wide smile. "What is it you want?"

"Oh nothing really. I just want a bit of your time after your night operation today." She said chirpily.

"You do realize that I have fifteen soldiers behind me right? They have eyes and ears you know?"

"Ehh? Does that mean that you do not have a free time?"

"No th—"

"Five thousand yen. Fuck-san will bang Akashi tomorrow." Suddenly the shortest guy in the platoon Pfc. Mophisto Cardinal suddenly yelled and slammed a 5000 yen paper on the table.

This idiot—

"No, 6000 yen and he will not do it." The only female member of the platoon Cpl. Selicia Romanov slammed a 5000 yen paper and couple of coins with it.

"Nah-nah, 7000 he will _bang_ both her and her sister!" Pvt. Romeo Valdez joined the fray.

"She doesn't even have a sister!" Pfc. Leon Kilos rebuked from the side.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I slowly raised my head and saw Akashi having a flushed expression.

Akashi...

"Geez, Lieutenant. You're men sure are giving me ideas."

"Cardinal you will be marching till evening after we came back! You hear me?!"

"What?! I was just setting the mood!" he replied.

* * *

 **1st EXPERIMENTAL DETACHMENT PLATOON (1st EDP-A) ARMY BRANCH: SOLDIER FILES**

 **2nd Lieutenant Ermest [Fuck-san] E. Fustaku**  
 **Nationality:** Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 30  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : February 16; Provence Cebu, Region VII, Philippines  
 **Height :** 177 cm  
 **Weight :** 75 kg  
 **Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Brigade, 1st Battalion, Una Company  
 **Position:** Platoon Leader

 **Sgt. Lomo C. Rego  
Nationality: **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 33  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : November 19; Provence of Rizal, Region IV-A, Philippines  
 **Height :** 175 cm **  
Weight :** 77 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Dragon Company **  
Position:** 1st Squad Team Leader

 **Pvt. Benedict [Ursa] A. Ursal  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 27  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : March 12; Provence of Sorsogon, Region V, Philippines  
 **Height :** 172 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 1st Squad Radio Operator

 **Cpl. Hanz [Tez] B. Cortez  
Nationality : **Filipino/American  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 27  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : December 12 ; Provence of Quezon, Region IV-A, Philippines  
 **Height :** 169 cm **  
Weight :** 70 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 1st Squad Rifleman

 **Pfc. Leon [Kilogram] N. Kilos  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 29  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : January 1; Provence of Leyte, Region VIII, Philippines  
 **Height :** 179 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 1st Squad Auxiliary Rifleman

 **Pvt. Renir [Zeno] O. Quezon  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 26  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : June 11; Provence of Capiz, Region VI, Philippines  
 **Height :** 174 cm **  
Weight :** 74 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 1st Squad Machine-gunner

 **Sgt. Etnaz A. Corazon  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 28  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : May 9; Provence of Bataan, Region III, Philippines  
 **Height :** 170 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 4th Battalion, River Company **  
Position:** 2nd Squad Team Leader

 **Pvt. Romeo [Val] Z. Valdez  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 27  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : March 12; Provence of Sorsogon, Region V, Philippines  
 **Height :** 170 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 2nd Squad Radio Operator

 **Cpl. Ervin [Mountain] C. Montebon  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 21  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : February 17; Provence of Cebu, Region VII, Philippines  
 **Height :** 169 cm **  
Weight :** 70 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 2nd Squad Rifleman

 **Pfc. Pura P. Robrido  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 26  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : April 6; Provence of Albay, Region V, Philippines  
 **Height :** 169 cm **  
Weight :** 68 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 2nd Machine Gunner

 **Pvt. Mophisto [Mop] I. Cardinal  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 25  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : March 12; Provence of Davao Del Norte, Region XI, Philippines  
 **Height :** 166 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 2nd Squad Automatic Rifleman and Grenadier

 **Sgt. Jason [Borneo] S. Borromeo  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 30  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : October 8; Provence of Cagayan, Region II, Philippines  
 **Height :** 177 cm **  
Weight :** 69 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Agila Company **  
Position:** 3rd Squad Team Leader

 **Pvt. Carlos [Rem] O. Remera  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 25  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : September 22; Provence of Misamis Oriental, Region X, Philippines  
 **Height :** 169 cm **  
Weight :** 68 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 3rd Squad Rifleman

 **Cpl. Selica [Sel] R. Romanov  
Nationality : **Filipino/Russian  
 **Sex :** Female  
 **Age :** 24  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : November 1; Provence of Surigao Del Sur, Region XIII, Philippines  
 **Height :** 171 cm **  
Weight :** _classified_ **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 3rd Squad Weapons Expert

 **Pfc. Franklin U. Zera  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 27  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : January 30; Provence of Tarlac, Region III, Philippines  
 **Height :** 170 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 3rd Squad Radio Operator

 **Cpl. Emel [Vas] V. Vasquez  
Nationality : **Filipino  
 **Sex :** Male  
 **Age :** 27  
 **Date of Birth and Address** : September 19; Provence of Sorsogon, Region V, Philippines  
 **Height :** 170 cm **  
Weight :** 75 kg **  
Unit :** Philippine Army, 501st Expeditionary Legion Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company **  
Position:** 3rd Squad Machine-Gunner.

* * *

 **Chopper B**

 **10 Minutes Before Arrival**

Breathing some hot air into his hands. 2nd Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku observed the faces of his soldiers inside Chopper B as it passed over the adjacent hill overlooking a city below them.

He then leaned his head out of the cabin, making sure that he grabbed into something solid before leaning, and stared at the first chopper containing half of his men. After that he then leans back and rested his back on the chairs inside the chopper.

"Now boys if you look to your left you are seeing the fairies coming in with their payloads." Said the pilot via the intercoms.

Soldiers both inside chopper A and B turned their attention to their left and saw swarms of miniature zeros passing by them. They were escorting larger planes that had green paint and looked like a land based bomber. Some of the fairy pilots passed so close to the choppers that the soldiers inside could see the fairy flying them.

Some were even saluting at the men inside the chopper.

"Where are they going?!" A soldier that goes with a nickname of Mop asked.

"To the original drop point. We will be waiting behind the mountain facing the port and wait for the fairies to stop plastering the area!" The pilot replied.

After a few ten minutes the chopper landed on the first drop point and ordered the soldiers to come out of the chopper and enjoy the fireworks. The choppers were then turned off when the soldiers came and took positions overlooking the port that they will be going.

Just like what the pilot said inside the chopper, the port was being plastered by high explosive bombs. The sky above the port was chaotic, pillars of fire were spwewing out from the ground and into the air. Balls of fire were raising from the sky.

The soldiers knew, they knew just how many fairies are currently dying on that air space alone. The moon was covered by smoke and the fighting planes of the fairies and the white and green abyssal planes chasing after them. Tracer rounds of white and green illuminated the sky.

All they could do now, was hunker down and wait for the fairies to lure all abyssal planes away from the airspace so that Fustaku and his men could go in mop up the remaining static gun emplacements.

"Alright mount up!" Fustaku yelled to his soldiers as he heard the chopper's engine shriek as it starts burning the fuel.

Slowly the sound of the engine's roar increased in volume as the pilot slowly controlled the chopper up into the air. Chopper B was the first one to be airborne and the first chopper that went towards the drop zone.

Passing by large pillars of smoke the overlooked the ground from above. They still can't believe that those small fairy planes could carry miniature 500lb bombs and create such a large crater below. The carcass of the dead abyssals that are capable of firing planes from below were everywhere. It must've been because of this that the choppers were not intercepted by heavy fire from below.

They were lucky enough that aggressive type abyssals were dormant during the night, if they weren't they would've been burning inside a Blackhawk right now.

"Ten seconds." A static call came to his radio.

With a slight jerk to the left the chopper finally stepped foot on abyssal soil, following the tactics that he implemented with his men, Fustaku revolves his hand around signifying his men to get down.

"Good luck, Lieutenant." Followed by another message.

After the gushing winds of the two choppers finally left the drop zone. Fustaku raised his body and pressed the transmission button in his radio.

"Sound off."

"First squad all accounted for"

"Second squad ready"

"Third squad ready"

Nodding after that, Fustaku pressed the transmission button again.

"Alright, I'm going to relay the plans again. First squad will be moving in to the tree line and plant the strobes and the beacon near the airfield. Second squad meanwhile will plant the C4's on the static gun emplacements and plant strobes if you come into contact with an abyssal spawn. Third squad will go to the crossroad and place the portable .50cal there and await for further orders."

A simultaneous _rogers_ soon followed. Slowly the three squadrons of the 1st Experimental Detachment Platoon scattered to their designated missions.

"Try not to keep things quite until all of us are done doing out primary jobs. Each squad must alert the others if your primary objects are met." Fustaku added.

Slowly the squadrons moved in different directions. Fustaku could hear the burning tree barks near him. He lets out a sigh and stood up from his crouched position and followed Lomo's squadron towards the tree line.

On a wedge formation they walked pass multiple impact craters that could fit the whole platoon inside. One soldier was unfortunate enough to fall inside one of these craters and got himself drenched with black goo from the abyssal carcass pilled inside the crater. He scrambled and crawled towards the top flicking and cursing.

"Fuckin."

"Sush it, we have to keep moving."

Passing a destroyed quadruped abyssal, Mop took the scanner from his carrier pack and scanned the carcass of the abyssal. He then checks the cannons that were destroyed from its back and took a picture of it.

"AA abyssals? These ones look like an enlarge tortoise." Mop said in fascination.

"What if they are..." Mountain walked passed him and took a single glance at the carcass before moving on.

Ahead of the group, Fustaku took a knee and checked the ground that was slowly turning into black goo.

"LT, is it just me or are we being stalked." Cpl. Leon Kilos' voice echoed on the proximate radio channel.

"What makes you say that?" He asked scanning the rear of the group.

"The hairs all over my body are standing."

"You are just scared shitless, Kilogram. Keep it to yourself." Sgt. Lomo Rego cut's in.

While basked by the silent night sky and the faint illumination of the burning carcasses they rushed towards the abandoned buildings near the tree line just south of the quarry. Then a large silhouette entered Fustaku's view. With a hand on the air, the squad stopped and then they slowly kneel to the ground.

"There's an unknown type in front of us. Mop bring in the scanner." Fustaku relayed his order.

Slowly walking beside him is Pfc. Renir 'Zeno' Quezon and Pfc. Mophisto 'Mop' Cardinal. A dark skinned guy with a peculiar hair color which is brown nodded and took the scanner from his pack.

The scanner booted with a muffled beep and an illuminating light came in front.

With slow deep breaths the squad waited until the scan was complete. Zeno turned around and gave a thumb's up to the others. A faint sight of relief then followed.

"Let's skirt around it. We don't wanna agitating it in the open." Lomo the original squad leader proposed on the proximity radio channel.

Lomo took the lead and skirted around the sleeping unknown type. It looked like a saber tooth cat and upon closer inspection two pincer tentacles were attached on its head. The face was covered by the shadow and the night vision goggles were not helping them see the face.

After a few feet away from the unknown type, first squad arrived at area N11. Fustaku gave another gesture. Soldiers that belonged to first squad then entered the large building abandoned buildings and planted their beacons.

A few hundred meters from them Sgt. Etnaz Corazon planted the first beacon under the large opening bark of a tree near the abandoned Animal Hospital. Kneeling beside him is his pointman, Cpl. Ervin 'Mountain' Montebon.

"Sarge, what's the point of planting these beacons." Mountain asked.

"Bombardment sectors for next week's operation." The sergeant replied.

Scanning the area, Mountain turned to his squad leader once more.

"But there is nothing here." He said softly.

Etnaz planted an index finger to the ground and pressed it as hard as he could. Seconds later the ground shifted forming bloated humanoid faces as it ripples across the area.

"We are on top of a spawning area. Taking this out first would make things easier once we come back together with others." Etnaz added he wipes his finger on his vest.

The disgusting formations on the ground almost made the 21 year old corporal to throw up.

Etnaz rallied up the men using hand gestures and a couple of call-signs to move to the next location. The night was long and there are still 50 locations left to scout.

Another 500 meters to the west is third squad commanded by Sgt. Jason 'Borneo' Borromeo. After silently taking out a small humanoid abyssal using his combat knife he ordered his machine gunner Cpl. Emel 'Vas' Vasquez to set-up the portable MG inside a small post office.

"Watch that side while the others plant the C4's and beacons." Borneo said at the corporal.

Vas gave his partner Pfc. Franklin Zera, a quick nod before he started disassembling the portable machine gun with Zera that Akashi gave to him. He only got two canisters worth of 1000 rounds each and if he uses them up unknowingly he knew that he won't be getting any replacements since he doesn't have an ammo carrier to provide him with additional ammunition.

By the time Vas finished setting up the MG position on his own his other squad mates: Rem, Sel, and Zera were already planting C4's beneath the static gun emplacements near their vicinity and a couple of beacons on areas A1 up to A-20. They did not have a scanner with them so they did not have the time to scan the knocked out unknown types.

"Hurry, we need to finish this so that we can go back quickly." Borneo urged the others through the proximity radio channel.

Their last job was to plant landmines along the cross road where humanoid abyssal types are expected to approach. Third squad had a total of 120 landmines at their disposal. These landmines weren't even required to be buried. They just need to throw them to the ground and the landmines would bury themselves to the ground.

For that reason they were called seeker mines.

"Second squad objectives met."

"Third squad objectives met."

Voices were now coming from the intercoms. Vas swallowed his saliva as he stared at a group of humanoid abyssal emerging from the tree line. They were moving towards their position.

 _First fuckin squad are you done yet?!_ Vas cursed loudly inside his head.

A sweat bud trekked at Vas temple. His finger resting in the C4 activation trigger but before silence breaks a faint voice echoes into the platoon radio channel.

"Atago?"

~o~

 **Yokosuka Naval Base**

 **One hour after Operation Guardian**

A small light carrier from the 3rd Carrier Division walked along one of the following hallways leading towards a miniature airfield near the sortie area inside the Shipgirl Dormitory. Three hours ago, 7500 aircraft left the airfield and flew to the Kyushu airspace to attack the heavily defended port on Fukuoka. Out of the 7500 aircraft composed of both naval and land based aircraft, only 203 returned.

Hosho sat on a knelled on seat cushion facing a small shrine that was near the indoor airfield. With a incense stick she light its with a matchstick and placed it upright on a bowl filled with brown sand. Hosho then closed her eyes and gently pressed both of her hands together, praying for the poor souls that did not return to the naval base.

Operators, or Fairies by many shipgirls are the backbone of the Combined Fleet. They are the pilots of their aircraft, assistants that help repair damaged equipment, workers that building and manufacture weapons and ammo for the shipgirls, and sailors stationed inside a shipgirls rigging. Without them, things would've been way different.

And Hosho, the so called mothership of many fairies and shipgirls alike, knew how many fairies have died in this Abyssal War.

Despite the fairies' contribution to the war effort not much is known about them. Their origins are not properly investigated and Akashi being the only repair ship in the Combined Fleet knew where and how to produce these fairies, she also refused to release any information about the fairies and would only state that: Repair ship type shipgirls are the only ones who know what their origins came from and how to reproduce them.

One thing for certain though is that fairies are like human's stashed inside a very small body. A single fairy has a height of around five or four inches and weighs around 3 kilograms. Majority of them are female and they lack reproductive organs, male fairies are rare and are skilled on piloting airplanes than their female counterparts who are good on making things and operating shipgirl equipment.

According to Akashi, two out of ten fairies are males while the rest are females. With the abyssals constantly attacking Japanese airspace these fairies are constantly sortied to deal with time, and as time goes on the Air Fleet has been loosing skilled fairies every day. To the point that missing ranks are replaced with female pilots.

Remaining male aces are pulled out of active service and are put on specialization schools as instructors for the new female pilots. With the lack of male aces in the Air Fleet on active service, casualties were stacking through the roof.

"Hosho-san."

Hosho opened her eyes and gently placed her hands on her thighs after that she slowly stood up from her kneeling position and faced the fleet carrier behind her.

Wearing a white top and red skirt, Akagi was munching a _n onigiri_ with her right hand and holding a scroll on her left hand.

Hosho felt her heart warming up a little after seeing one of her students standing in front of her, casually munching on a large onigiri that was probably made by Kaga.

"Oh Akagi-chan. I told you not to bring any snacks near the airfield or the fairies might come rushing and ask for some." Hosho said with a faint chuckle.

"Well majority of them are on sortie right now so I am not that scared of them. Anyways, here's the list of the newly graduated pilots from Tomonaga's Torpedo Bomber School."

Hosho smiles as she gently took the scroll from Akagi's hand and read the names of the female fairies that just graduated from Tomonaga's school. Deep inside her she wondered, despite it being sick, she wondered how many of these girls would be remaining and see the end of this war.

For that she just wonders, and steeled her heart for the upcoming battles...on the air.

~o~

 **Thirty Minutes Prior**

He was already a few hundred meters away from the quarry when abyssal activity increased. Of the six soldiers that made up the first squadron a lone soldier stood on top of a large tree branch

The reason being a Cha-type abyssal is currently moving under the shadows of the cold night. Its nose pointing up in the air with its claws ready for a sudden attack, the only thing that's keeping the 1st EDP platoon commander alive is the height advantage.

"Good thing I ordered Lomo take care of the beacon planting while I scout out the miniature airfield." He let out a sigh.

2nd LT. Ermest Fustaku had two choices when he and first squad arrived at the tree line. One is to focus on gathering intel on the unknown abyssal types and place beacons on them so that they can be monitored or to scout the miniature airfield that they will be taking a week later.

Fustaku chose to scout the miniature airfield on his own and ordered the soldiers of first squad to handle the intel gathering and beacon placing on the tree line.

Second squad has already gathered sufficient intel regarding the terrain deformations near the abandoned animal hospital that was infected with abyssal goo and is already on standby on the connecting highway.

"If we are attacking that airfield next week might as well gather intel about the terrain." Fustaku said to himself.

As the Cha-type moved further downhill, Fustaku slowly climbed down from the top.

On a crouching position he trekked on the steep hill before realizing that he was already standing on the rocky forest edge.

As soon as he went prone on the ground multiple searchlights illuminated the whole tree line. Fustaku let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he managed to avoid sudden death.

While resting his stomach on the ground he slowly crawled towards a grassy plain that could act as cover as he gathers intel.

Slowly he exhaled to the ground, trying his best not to let out a noticeable white cloud to the air. Today was the 21st of December after all, but for some reasons there has been no sightings of snow or cold gushes on the mainland. The weather was soo hot like in the tropics and when you think about it you would realize that something clearly is influencing this phenomenon.

Fustaku arrived at the very edge of the grassy cover. He pulled out his camera and started taking pictures on the green drones that were on standby at the airfield.

Despite the heavy bombings a few hours ago, the miniature airfield appeared unscathed. It surprised the second lieutenant.

"After that heavy bombing not a single scratch. Is the airfield protected by a force field or something?" Fustaku asked himself before facing his attention towards the drones on the miniature airfield.

The green drones resembled those of abyssal hell diver bombers that a Wo-type standard abyssal carrier would unleash during an engagement. These drones however were three times larger than the typical abyssal planes shipgirls encounter during sortie.. The bombs were bigger too, like four times bigger.

Fustaku gulped in awe as he realized what the abyssal army has prepared for them. He realized how unprepared and how outgunned they were against the abyssal army. And initiating the operation next week would only give them a failed operation and a lot of dead soldiers.

Clicking the zoom button of his camera, Fustaku realized that beside the green drone stands a humanoid figure.

It has a white hair and violet eyes. It wore a small blue sailor's cap on its head and had a long black jacket over its white one piece dress. Fustaku pressed the zoom button to its highest output and saw the face of the humanoid figure. It was the same humanoid abyssal that Admiral Goto was talking about.

But as Fustaku reached the maximum output of his zoom button he realized that the humanoid abyssal was looking at him, straight through the lenses of his camera. His hand trembled as he realized who that humanoid creature is.

A smile, he saw a crooked smile you would see from a murder that has determined its victim. Fustaku's breathing pattern was starting to become irregular and his heart beating wildly.

Then the female creature spoke on an audible tone.

"Fuck….san~"

At that moment he lowered the camera from his eyes and realized that the female creature was already crouching in front of him, in point blank range. Her stares were cold and lifeless, her fingers lightly tapping on his Kevlar helmet. She then spoke once more, this time on an understandable voice.

"Er~me~st~ san..." She spoke with a weaving tone. "Ermest-san~!"

Unbeknownst to him he was already pressing the transmission button of the platoon radio channel. He tried warning his men but out of shock he could only say the name of the humanoid abyssal.

"Atago" He spoke with his eyes focused on the wide crooked smile Atago was making.

The abyssalized figure of Atago hand immediately grabbed Fustaku's head and threw him back into the forest. His back, his hip, and his arms were immediately broken when his back slammed in supersonic speeds on a large tree.

His ears were ringing and vision blinking out. Fustaku tried standing up but was stopped by Atago's heels.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Fustaku cried as the cracking sound of his arm fades into his ears.

"Ermest-san! You're here—you're really here~" Atago's voice tinged in his ears.

Fustaku choked in anguish as Atago lifted him up to the air.

"I've always wanted to see you, you know~?"

Both of his feet were lifted from the ground. The only thing he could do was to grapple Atago's wrist and hope to break away.

"Stop" Fustaku managed to choke out those words.

"Ehhhh, you're no fun. Doing it this way is much more exciting don't you think?"

Atago's grip was getting tighter and tighter. His windpipe was starting to close, it wasn't long before he passes out eventually.

As Atago closes the distance between them, a hole that was around two inches in diameter suddenly emerged on her wrist. Fustaku turned his eyes towards the direction of the blue tracer's origin. Standing on a fire ready position is the pointman of First squad, Pfc. Leon 'Kilogram' Kilos.

Atago turned her attention towards him but was greeted by a heavy volley of 8.02mm Armor Piercing Akashi-made Rounds. Multiple penetration wounds could be seen littering around Atago's upper body. The crackling sound of the StA 409's gunfire echoed across the night forest of the abyssal infested land.

Fustaku's body collapses to the ground and Atago's wrist was cleanly cut off from the hail of bullets. He lets out multiple coughs as the other soldiers move in and escorted him to safety.

Slowly Atago's frozen figure moved again. This time multiple barrels of 20.3 centimeter cannons emerged from her back like a symbiotic creature.

"You are not getting away...because~ you belong to me~!" She shouted.

After that a hail of 20.3 centimeter cannons were fired behind the soldiers that were running downhill. Nobody dared to look back, if they slow down now it's either being shot by that furious looking abyssal or the humanoid abyssals that were sprinting towards them, dripping saliva's coming out of their mouths.

The squad leader of first squad Sgt. Lomo took a quick glimpse at his back. What he saw was a pack of Hu-type abyssals quickly trailing behind them. Using his radio he switched to the operations channel and spoke in quick succession.

"LT's down, I repeat LT's down! All units fall back to the rendezvous point now!"

Lomo raised his head to the sky and saw a green flare slowly descending. With a smile on his face he prepared for the following red glowing objects passing over it to land.

"I hope those shipgirls are accurate."

Then a deafening explosion erupted about 100 feet from their current position pulverizing the chasing Hu-type abyssals.

"Sendai here! We've already stationed three speed boats at the harbor to pick you guys up. While you retreat we'll provide screening fire."

"Roger, we are currently linking up with second squad." Lomo said as he stopped and fired his StA 409 again at the chasing Hu-types.

They were having trouble as they ran along the sand quarry but they eventually arrived at the location where second squad has set up a defensive perimeter on the connecting highway. Together with second squad they ran towards the mini tug-boat port where third squad has taken defensive positions.

"Borneo, I've linked up with second squad. Tell me that the speed boats are big."

"They are big enough to fit five soldiers each— where the hell are you guys?!" Borneo shouted as a loud explosion erupted at the horizon. "There goes the seeker mines. I do not care where you are right now. Just get to the here quickly."

Lomo turned to his fellow squad leader Etnaz who was carrying their unconscious NCO. Etnaz made a thumb's up gesture as he ran ahead of the crowd.

"Everyone just sprint to third squad's position. Do not stop for anything!"

""Roger!""

The group of ten soldiers ran as fast as they could as a horde of Hu-types closes in on their position. Never before they have felt this way before, they've never sprinted as fast as this one. Not even basic training was this difficult. Accompanying deep exhales and the increasing audible howls of the Hu-types made them increase their speed and not dare slowing down.

Some tried firing blindly as they ran, there were successful hits but most of them were just misses. Then a six legged Hu-type vaulted at the last man of trailing behind the group of sprinting soldiers, Pfc. Leon 'Kilogram' Kilos.

Kilos; also known as Kilogram; struggled to get the Hu-type off him. Its large pincer like teeth were moving closer and closer and the sheer muscle strength of the Hu-type was defeating him on muscle endurance. The Hu-type moved all over trying its best to swipe away Kilograms's hand.

The Hu-type then stopped and distanced itself from Kilogram before making a strong head-butt at Kilogram's forehead. Kilogram's consciousness almost faded, his ears ringing from the sudden attack. Stunned, Kilogram failed to stop the Hu-type who has already bitten off his dominant hand.

Kilogram's consciousness came back and the excruciating pain soon followed. He screamed, he screamed in pain. Out of fury he pulled his Berretta M9 loaded with normal 9mm NATO rounds and stuffed the tip of his berretta at the mouth of the Hu-type.

"Lumayo ka, puta!" Kilogram shouted pulling the trigger of his berretta over and over again.

But it did no effect to the Hu-type. The Hu-type closed its jaws and broke the berretta into two pieces. Gritting his teeth Kilogram pulled his StA 409 and raised its barrel at the forehead of the Hu-type.

"Then how about this one?" Kilogram pulls the trigger and the Hu-type's head puffed into black cloud.

Kilogram groaned as he realized that he has already lost a lot of blood. Breathing erratically, Kilogram dragged his body on the asphalt road. Blood trailed after, his destination the rendezvous point.

It took him around five minutes before another group of Hu-types jumped on him and ripped his other arm off. They bit and gnawed his Kevlar Vest off his torso, he fought back but it was already clear that his actions were only futile.

As the last bits of his existence starting to fade a humanoid silhouette viewed over him. It was shouting at him but he could not understand what the humanoid creature was saying. Was his ears eaten off or did he just went deaf? We was unsure but a single fact remained he was now on death's finger tips.

The humanoid creature raised its weapon and pulled its trigger. Blue tracers came out from its barrel and blue muzzle flashes illuminated his disfigured body. It repeated for about twenty cycles before he felt his body moving without his permission.

His view lowered for about thirty degrees revealing a group of Hu-types making a small pile in front of the six soldiers that were making a line providing suppressing fire at the horde of Hu-types.

Kilogram's view was then raised upwards about 45 degrees revealing the black starry sky of the Kyushu Operation Zone. A couple of green objects were appearing on the sky. They were big, like a surveillance drone, and on its bellies are bombs that were only attached by a mere hook. These green objects were descending in altitude and was approaching him quickly.

But a screen of black clouds disrupted their dive run, some of them unfortunately destroyed. The group of green objects scattered in every directions and a new humanoid figure entered his view.

It was a female, wearing a white and green blouse that exposes her midriff, a different white dress with red lace underneath the blouse, and a green hat with red lace on her head. She had these antennas sticking out of her hair and she was screaming at the group of men that was carrying his body.

The female then pushed an armed man aside and turned her head at the soldiers carrying Kilogram's body. She was speaking but Kilogram was unable to understand what she was saying.

The female then summoned a vast array of weapons connected by a single waist hook. She raised her hand at the sky and the barrels of her cannons zeroed in on the group of green objects diving on their position.

The female shouted and her cannons fired endlessly. It was like a fireworks display, the cannons did not stop firing, the barrels were steaming red and whenever a single barrel stopped firing the female would pull the barrel out using her bare hands and inserted a new cannon barrel.

The cycle continued until Kilogram could feel rubber sticking at his cold back. Water, he felt water drenching his body, they were moving, Kilogram felt that too. Slowly he raised his head again to see whether the female jumped in together with them but he was wrong.

The female stood her ground refusing to move a muscle. Red glowing cannon barrels were surrounding her and rectangular canisters were being spewed out at the side of each cannon. With swift movements she would insert a new rectangular canister behind the cannon turret and continued firing.

It was not long before she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of green objects in the sky. Explosions were erupting all around her, her clothes tattered and damaged but she refused to stop firing.

The female turned her head once more, and realized the increasing distance between her and the three speed boats containing the unfortunate soldiers that were forced to test out their new toys, plant explosives on static gun emplacements, and putting beacons on abyssal spawns.

"Heh…..Sendai, take care with the rest." Heavy cruiser Maya said with a smile on her face.

"Would you please stop fucking around?! Get the fuck out of the harbor or we'll leaving you behind!" Light cruiser Sendai replied on the radio with a furious tone.

Maya's cool smile immediately evaporated as she realized that a group of Chu, Cha, and Ro-types are closing in on her position. She hastily unmanifested her rigging into light particles and sprinted straight to the ocean where she is safe from the large claws of the Cha-type; the huge jaws of the Chu-type and the Ripped muscles of the Ro-type.

Before she was drenched in water she summoned her riggings again and sailed straight towards Sendai's fleet.

Sendai saw Maya's figure closing in, out of fury Sendai fired a single 14cm shell at her. Maya evaded it and fired back a 20.3cm shell at Sendai.

"Fuck off!" Maya shouted back.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **According to Akashi's report, Sendai's fleet almost killed Lomo's squadron if it weren't for Fumizuki's** _ **accidental**_ **collision with Maya who was tasked on performing the support bombardment at that time. The rumor about Atago's whereabouts immediately spread like wildfire when the said shipgirls who weresortied with Sendai shared it to their respective fleets.**

 **Thanks to Lt. Fustaku's photographs that he has taken on that day the supposed Winter Offensive was postponed for another month due to lacking preparations. The Army was really irritated by this but Admiral Goto pressed the Emperor to postpone the Offensive knowing that it will only give Japan a very devastating defeat.**

 **UPDATED 11-05-2018**


	19. Lollygagging

**Lollygagging**

* * *

 **January 27, 2051**

 **Yokosuka Naval Base**

I sat on my old rectangular table and scanned the files that have been compiled by Ooyodo, my secretary ship as of today. It's been a few weeks ever since the scouting operation on the Kyushu Operation Zone was conducted back in December. Soldiers from my experimental platoon did a superb job on gathering intel about the new abyssals that were spotted there as well as planting explosives on key areas on Moji Ward's port.

Because of their intel that gathered on the KOZ, General Tojo's grand Spring Offensive was put into hold until sufficient preparations have been made. It was me who personally forwarded the intel to the Prime Minister who then forwarded it to the Emperor who then ordered all Army Operation on hold. General Tojo was not very pleased with this however with the pitiful state of the Imperial Army right now he chose to follow the Emperor's orders.

However, it was very unfortunate that the commanding officer of my experimental platoon was severely wounded in action and has been hospitalized for a few weeks now. He still haven't woke up ever since but Akashi has been telling me that the 2nd Lieutenant has been recovering quickly due to the _special formula_ that was injected into him.

To add salt to the wound we now have a very pressing issue upon us.

"So, Asahi's theory was correct after all." My coarse voice echoed inside my office that was packed full of shipgirls from each respective fleets.

Shipgirls from the main battle fleet, shipgirls from the convoy escort fleet, shipgirls from the coastal patrol fleet, as well as the resource expedition fleet; all of my flagships are currently standing in front of me with downcast expressions.

Why you ask? Well the reason being is because of the photograph that Lt. Ermest Fustaku brought with him.

Wearing a black jacket and a white one piece dress underneath, she was looking straight at the camera with her violet eyes devoid of any life. She was smiling crookedly and her hand seems to be resting on top of something.

She was known as the first shipgirl to be summoned in this world. She was called the 'First' of all summons that happened here in Japan. She had 5449 confirmed abyssal kills on her tally and lastly the most cheerful amongst every shipgirl in this Naval Base.

"As of today, the second ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers, Atago, is hereby classified as Go-type abyssal heavy cruiser." I said to the shipgirls in front of me. "If you see her again, do not hesitate to fire your guns at her. Are we clear?"

"Yes!" All of them replied.

With a deep sigh I leaned back at the backrest of my chair and stared at them. They were looking away, of course they would be looking away…after all they just saw their colleague, their seasoned veteran turned into something that doesn't resembles the Atago they knew.

The cheerful and energetic Atago they knew is now gone, and was replaced by something that is dangerous, vicious, and mysterious at the same time. The cheerful smile they knew was now replaced by a crooked smile that would send chills on your spine.

"Look" I spoke with a soft tone. "I did not call all of you here to be displaying your contained depression in front of me. I called you girls here because you are the flagships of your respective fleets. I want you to say something…..anything about this. You girls don't have to hold back…" I said as I stared at their averting eyes.

Then a voice came, it was crass tone with a hint of fury in between. Emerging from the crowd of shipgirls is the flagship of the 8th Main Battle Fleet, Takao; Sister Ship of Atago.

 **"** You knew didn't you?" She asked.

Slowly she approached my desk and slams the table with all her strength breaking the table in two. I held my ground, gritting my teeth as the small shards of the broken table landed straight on my body, some of them burrowing through my clothes.

The shipgirls behind her tried stopping Takao but I raised my hand and stopped them halfway. After all, this is my frontal confrontation with her older sister….

"You knew all along that she would sink together with the rest of the destroyers attached to her fleet! After all how could a mere heavy cruiser escorted with two destroyers do to a fleet of abyssal battleships and carriers?! You sent her to Okinawa when we knew there is an abyssal princess stationed there!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and her palms reddening in fury. She looked at me straight in the eye, a taint of murderous intent emerging silently from it.

"Okinawa is a vital strategic island where shipgirls from China and ours could meet and exchange resou—"

"Then what about Taiwan, huh? What about the small islands on Korea or even the northern islands of Russia? Russia has more shipgirls than China, Russia could mobilize enough shipgirls from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok via the Siberian Canal! China has what, eight?! Eight shipgirls and you are telling that China has more resources than Russia?! You are hiding something from us, I tell you this I know deep inside my heart and as a warship that has seen hideous things on the past war… I know a lying naval officer when I see one." She walked forward and grabbed the collars of my uniform, overshadowing me from her tall figure.

"That's enough, Takao!" The flagship of the 4th Main Battle Fleet, Yamashiro grabbed Takao from the back and pulled her away from me. Takao releases my collars and struggled to break free from Yamashiro's restrains.

"You have walked pass the line of my patience, Takao. Admiral Goto is your commanding officer show some respect!" Yamashiro yelled.

"Respect?! Why would I show respect to this con-man, huh?! I've dug deeper than any of you about his background and discovered that he has no naval experience whatsoever! You are just a fool being ordered around by an inexperienced fool!"

"Enough!" Flagship of the 11th Main Battle Fleet, Yamato came forward throwing a heavy slap at Takao's left cheek. "That is enough, Takao. You don't have to go that far—"

I walked in between them and gently pushed Yamato's towering body to the side. With a smile on my face I looked at Yamato's crumbling stern expression.

"I had no choice, I only had forty shipgirls at my disposal back then. Those forty shipgirls were constantly being injured day in and day out. Day battles, night battles, escort missions, rescue missions, emergency detachment missions, skirmish missions, defensive missions, EVERYTHING! They had to do everything on their own, Akashi could not sleep for a single month because she had to tend wounded shipgirls using old methods, Hiryuu could not sortie for a week because she lacked planes, Haruna, Hiei, Ise, Fuso and Yamashiro could not be switched on a daily basis because they were the only battleships back then. I lack the destroyers to make scouting missions or escort missions so I was forced to sortie the heavy cruisers and light carriers to do the job. The coasts of Japan were full of abyssals back then so sea transports were prohibited sail to save steel and personnel…." I walked towards the group of shipgirls that I only knew for a year. They were called batch 46' signifying that they were my 46th summoning attempt.

Shipgirls like Kako, flagship of the 1st Escort Fleet; Chikuma flagship of the 2nd Escort Fleet, Kuma from the 12th Main Battle Fleet; Jintsuu of the 3rd Night battle fleet; Kisaragi from the 1st Resource Expedition Fleet. They were part of the recent summoning attempt that happened a year prior.

"So I asked the prime minister back then to gather all the remaining salt all over Japan to this Naval Base so that I could summon a new batch of shipgirls that could greatly help the combined fleet. And there I saw them, shipgirls like you for instance Yamato, Katsuragi, Akagi, Souryuu, Isuzu, Ooi, Asahi, and many others."

With a downcast look, I walked towards the window of my office and stared at the calm weather overlooking the naval base.

"Although Japan had to endure on not spicing up their meals with salt for almost a year. But all of it were not for naught because the new batch of shipgirls were able to make contact with the trapped Russian soldiers on Vladivostok."

Operation Vlad, was my first major Operation that took part on the Western Sea of Japan. With the fear of food shortage and material problems piling up, I persuaded the Japanese diet to make a major clearing operation on the Western Sea of Japan to reach Vladivostok, a naval base east of Russia.

An intense battle indeed, I almost lost Suzuya and Taiyou back then if it wasn't for I-1's efforts on retrieving their sinking bodies and carried them back to Niyudozaki Naval Base. It was because of her efforts that the heavy emphasis of submarine escort backed sorties were introduced on my Naval Doctrine.

Before we cleared the Western Sea of Japan we couldn't make contact with the outside world since the sea's that were surrounding us back then were making radio waves and other means of communication useless. Whenever I sortie my shipgirls, I always write down my orders on a piece of paper before inserting it inside a wooden cylindrical container.

It was like we were fighting on the First World War again where radios were just being implemented. Once the sea border between Russia and Japan was cleared and Haruna's strike fleet reached Vladivostok they were greeted with warm welcomes from the locals. Communications was restored and Russia became Japan's major trading partner. Almost all of Japan's raw materials were transported from Russia and as bargain for that, Japan shared the summoning technique that I used to summon my shipgirls.

One after another, shipgirls from respective countries were appearing all over the globe. And it only takes a single major desperate operation to make it happen. I wonder back then what would've happen if all of my shipgirls sank back then and we were unable to make contact with Russia.

But two years later, it was not long before the Japanese Diet made perfect control over me and my shipgirls. Absurd missions like retaking the lost Islands of Kyushu and the hasty mission of Yakushima were becoming more and more common as the days of successful missions piled up. To them these girls were, as if, immortals summoned by Amaturasu-sama to save Japan from utter destruction. It was becoming apparent that the Japanese Diet was too consumed by fantasies about having a weapon that could defeat their enemies. And then the most absurd mission among the batch of absurd missions came…..Retrieving the rumored gold on the sunken carcass of Yamato…

The order came from the emperor himself, Naruhito. It was a private mission only me and the emperor knew about this. Although they did make an extravagant ceremony of my arrival on Imperial Palace, dancing and singing were echoing inside the palace. But inside a small room the emperor ordered me to retrieve the sunken imperial gold.

"The emperor blackmailed me of stripping away my place as the Combined Fleet Admiral if I refused. Out of my selfish pride and concern about everyone's well-being if I left my position as the admiral, I assembled the most experienced and battle hardened shipgirls of the 140 summoned. That was way before you were summoned, Takao." I turned my head towards Takao. "Atago was very opposed by this, saying that the sunken gold was just a myth and Yamato herself confirmed it. I even brought Yamato with me to explain to the emperor but he did not budge."

Takao separated herself from Yamashiro and looked at me. She was like looking at me straight to my soul.

"Wha-what are you—" She slowly opened her lips.

"It was Atago who begged me to take the mission by herself since most of the shipgirls back then don't even know how to summon and unsummon their riggings or how to manually reload their cannons."

"Even so, my sister Atago is just a mere heavy cruiser sending her together with Nagatsuki and Matsukaze is just plan foolish and—"

"It was her proposal together with Nagatsuki and Matsukaze, who back then were the most feared destroyers in the combined fleet. They don't want their inexperienced colleagues to be sent to the fray. Also back then we were also short on fuel and ammunition so carrier and battleship shipgirls were out of the question, which lessens the number of allowable shipgirls to be summoned. Yuudachi and the rest of the destroyers were unfortunately sent to Vladivostok to escort the shipping vessels approaching our ports. That leaves Nagatsuki and Matsukaze the only battle hardened destroyer shipgirls cleared for sortie. Lastly—" I paused and pulled a note from my pockets and handed it over to Takao.

"Before I could give them their order which was to make a fake report about the private mission, they left the port and headed straight to the East China Sea."

" _We'll prove the emperor that he is wrong?_ " Takao spoke softly as she read through the letter that her sister wrote.

"How they were going to do it was beyond me since they did not care to explain how." I said to her.

A soft loud thud came to my ears. On my eyes I saw Takao leaning her back on the wall and a hand covering her mouth.

"That was three days after you were summoned, Takao." I said to her.

At that moment, tears were flowing out of Takao's eyes. Her cries echoing inside the small admiralty office of mine, the eyes of her fellow shipgirls pinning on her and all I could do was watch her finish reading the other contents inside the letter which was a parting paragraph from Atago to Takao. Back then, Atago did not knew that Takao was going to be summoned along with the rest of batch 44. Atago had a habit of writing everything on a thick book, and by everything I mean writing events, disasters, as well as describing the world that she is now living in. It was a so called book that would help her older sister, Takao as well as her little sisters, Maya and Choukai get accustomed to the new world.

A sense of guilt was burning inside me, if only I could just persuade the emperor back then I wouldn't have to tell this to her older sister, Takao. She wouldn't have to experience this.

"I was a fool back then. I was naïve to believe for such narrow hope of her fleet's return...I didn't even send an investigation team after their disappearance. Now that decision haunts my very existence. I am sorry, Takao. For failing you like this." I said to her with a deep voice.

Slowly, Takao stood up from the ground and folded the paper and inserted it on her pockets. With resolve on her eyes burning she looked at me in the eyes and spoke lividly.

"I will bring her back to the naval base even if I have to fight her head-on." She then turned her back towards me and walked straight to the door.

With her figure out of the room, the eyes of my shipgirls pinned towards me. A taint look of dauntlessness on their eyes.

"Are you just gonna stand here? Go support her!" I called onto them.

With a nod the flagship shipgirls that I called rushed outside and ran after Takao. Left alone inside my office a new figure entered holding a notepad on her hand.

"Are you not gonna tell them about what happened to Nagatsuki and Matsukaze?" Kaga spoke with a worried tone.

"No, although Ro-110's sighting with an abyssalized Nagatsuki cruising together with an Abyssal Princess was feasible. We still do not know where her current location is right now, lastly we also know nothing about what happened to Matsukaze. The first half of the issue is enough." I replied to her.

"True, but at least tell them the full truth and not the half of it. If you keep this up eventually you will lose the trust of your shipgirls."

I slowly walked towards Kaga and gently held her hand with both of my hands. With a tired looked I raised my head and replied.

"There are some things that are meant to be left unsaid. Just like my relationship with you right now. I hope you understand what I am saying."

Kaga turned her head to the sides. She held my hand tightly and gave me a tense expression.

"This isn't about that, these girls need you and you know it as well. If you betray their trust now, who will they put all their trust onto? You know what will happen if they lose you! They need you Arimato, they needed an admiral that will lead them and they needed someone to depend on…I need you Arimato. So please…I beg of you, you need to stop doing this you are only overburdening yourself…"

"I…I am only doing my job as the Admiral of the Combined Fleet. I am doing my job to do what's right, not just for me but for my shipgirls as well…"

"Arimato!"

"Kaga, we should stop. I still have to go to the Imperial Palace this afternoon to persuade the Japanese Diet prime minister and the emperor to report on this. Dealing with Atago is a priority after all." I said to her and gently released her hands.

I then took my coat from the hanger and wore it. A few heavy steps I was already facing the wooden double doors but before I could opened it I heard Kaga spoke behind me with a low voice.

"Why are you burdening yourself like this?! Just what am I to you?" She yelled at my back.

"You are my wife. My wife is risking her life to save this country from utter destruction by defending its oceans and liberating the lost ones. I don't want you to be burdened by my own problems. We all have a part in this fight. As a husband as well as the Admiral of the Combined Fleet, I am obligated to carry my own share of burdens…and mistakes." I said to her while my back was facing her.

Slowly I opened the door and closed it with those words left behind.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **Updated 11-20-2018**


	20. Extra Chapter 19-A (Side Story)

**Chapter 1X: R &R**

"Akashi! Akashi!" A loud female's voice echoed around the dirty shop that Akashi loaned from the Army. Grimacing, Akashi turned her attention to her colleague, Asahi.

A former battleship that wouldn't stop yelling at the littlest of detail, she was once called the bothersome shipgirl due to this obsession. But being the older repair ship in the fleet, Akashi was forced to follow her antics.

"What is it this time? If it's about the explosion turret conspiracy then I am out!" Akashi walked towards the small workshop _Asahi_ _controlled area_ section of the shop.

"Nono! Asahi waved her hands around. "I just received a very important information from St. Petersburg and it's about a black shard that turns inanimate corpses into abyssal like monsters! It's like a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie Akashi!"

Akashi pinched the bridge of her nose and grabbed a wrench from somewhere and slams it straight at the center of Asahi's head, being a former battleship that turned into a repair ship that the damage that Akashi did was just a tickle.

"Enough of this bullshit! I've had enough of your antics for a while now, so please would you just stop poking something that is just plain crazy and stupid!?"Akashi's ears were beet red and the sides of her temples were veins pulsating.

"Bu-bu-but I've already made a research paper about it! And I call it this phenomenon abyssmalufication! Doesn't that sound cool?!"Asahi tried persuading Akashi who was already full set on not listening.

"Nope nope nope!" Akashi rushed out of the shop leaving Asahi alone with an opened mouth and a raised hand.

"But the so called shard also had repair capabilities if we break open its violet cells apart using radioactive waves..." Asahi slowly pouted and grabbed a flask full of green goo. "I'll show you, I'll show you the power of my greatest invention! Huahuahuahuahuha!"

Her laugh echoed inside the shop scaring away the most veteran shipgirl in the combined fleet, Atago.

"I-I need to warn Goto about this!" Atago ran as fast as she could and heading straight to the admiralty office.

~o~

"So you are telling me that Asahi somehow invented something that is giving you bad vibes? Did I follow?" Admiral Goto said profoundly not butting an eye at the fidgeting tower in front of him.

"Yes, and I really do feel that this new invention of hers is going to ransack the naval base if ever this invention reaches unwanted hands." The heavy cruiser elaborated.

"Atago I've heard enough. I think you've had enough beer sessions with the little brown american for this week. I will be suspending your privileges as the veteran shipgirl of this fleet and place you under house arrest for dislocating his shoulder while having your weekly hangover..." Admiral Goto spoke with a deadpan expression as he lowered the papers in front of his face.

"Nooooooo! Not my weekly hangover with Fuck-san!" Atago screamed in agony.

"And do something about that nickname already. I've met the man and he doesn't show any signs that reflect the nickname that you have bestowed upon him. Would you please give him a kind break?!" Admiral Goto added.

"But! But! He understands me." Atago tried her best making a crying expression to persuade the Combine Fleet Admiral.

"No buts! Go to your room and contemplate about all the headaches you are giving him!" But the Admiral had a cold heart from the beginning so he decided to forcibly shoo away the problematic shipgirl in front of him.

"Phuyie!" Atago turned around and smashed through the wooden single mounted door.

Admiral Goto's eyes widen realizing that Atago has destroyed his office door once more. Up to this day, Atago has destroyed his office door for the 200th time.

"ATAGO!" Admiral Goto shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Admiral! Admiral! Look! Look! I've made something that would definitely interest you!" A new female figure appeared in front of him.

Asahi was wearing her battleship attire and was presenting a red book that had the same thickness as a Christian Holy Bible and had the same width as an encyclopedia. Admiral Goto took notice from this and grabbed the red book and scanned the contents.

After a few seconds of scanning Admiral Goto have decided what to do with the red book that is by throwing it out through the glass window behind.

"Asahi I've had enough of your antics too!" Admiral Goto shouted at the top of his lungs once more.


	21. Basics

**Basics**

 **Two Hours Later**

 **January 27, 2051**

By the time she regained consciousness she was swimming inside a loud ringing dome. The deep high pitch sound was getting louder and louder whenever a picture is being displayed on her vision.

Yes a picture, it was a blurred one but at least this meant that she is not blind. Accompanying these loud ringing sound are red and black explosions appearing on the horizon. It was like a sunflower, the bright red color on the outer edge and a dark color at the center. It was so beautiful she recalled to herself.

Then the ringing sound slowly subsided and the picture started to become clear. Then like a supersonic boom passing over her ear, she fully regained consciousness and sudden found herself laying her back on a large boulder.

"Takao! Takao! Stop dozing off and pull yourself together. We need to lure Atago out of the harbor if we want to bring her home!" A loud female's voice echoed on the intercoms.

Blinking her eyes twice she turned her head to the side and saw Wakaba, a small destroyer stretching her body.

"Wha-what happened?" Takao asked with a confused tone

"You blanked out when a random shell landed on your face. Luckily it didn't blow your head off thanks to your armor." Wakaba replied with a sigh.

Raising her body from the boulder that she was leaning on, Takao suddenly felt a sharp pain on her head. It took her some time to remember how she got here in the first place.

First was the initial reports of her second sister Atago being sighted on the Kyushu Operation Zone and was clearly turned into something else. Second, out of fury she bolted out of Admiral Goto's office and headed straight to the sortie area where her fleet was patiently waiting for orders. Lastly, after they arrived at the Sou-nada Sea, Takao received a direct hit on the face from the harbor knocking her out for about two hours.

"Then—"Takao tried piecing things together but was cut-off.

"Who are the ones currently engaged in naval battle? Well that would be Sendai and Kuma's fleet who are engaging a fleet of light cruisers and destroyers while you passed out." Wakaba replied.

"Where are the others?" Takao further questioned.

"I've send Kinugasa and the rest of the girls attached to Sendai's fleet since you were in no state to command them and I am not in a state to command them too." Wakaba replied while inserting an Armor Piecing shell on her portable gun turret. "We should link up with Sendai's fleet currently refueling and rearming at the makeshift Naval Base on Mukoujima Island. Hopefully, Ooyodo should be able to send additional fleets in this impromptu operation."

"Sorry—" Takao made a downcast expression.

"No need to apologize. If I were on your position I would've done the same thing. Although I would've ask for more intel before I jumped into the fray." Wakaba tapped Takao's elbow before jumping into the water and materializing her rigging.

Slowly, Takao walked towards the edge of the boulder and jumped into the water before materializing her riggings. She then started her engines and followed Wakaba who is sailing towards Mukoujima Island. Glancing to the side Takao saw the burning city of Nakatsu which was adjacent to the island that they are sailing onto.

Takao could see vividly, large dark smokes rising up into the air and echoes of large artillery guns firing at the distance. Takao then turned her head to the source of the sound and saw a large concentration of large artillery pieces firing a salvo at the city of Nakatsu.

"Why are they bombarding Nakatsu?" Takao sailed beside Wakaba and asked a question.

"Well as you can see, apparently Kuma found where Atago was hiding when they linked up with us. And who would have guessed that it was Nakatsu harbor. Currently she retreated deeper into the city when Sendai and Kuma's fleet successfully taihai'd her. We don't have the support of the Army right now so we asked those kind soldiers on Ube Harbor to bombard the city." Wakaba replied with a hand raised on the air, "We've arrived"

Takao turned her head towards the direction where Wakaba's hands were waving. What she saw was a building occupied by civilians, and shipgirls squatting on the ground while rearming themselves with long lance torpedoes and ammo canisters for their main armaments.

"Look who's late for the party!" A light cruiser wearing a reddish-orange dress and a white scarf around her neck stood up from the ground and waved her hand.

However her full attire was full of soot and holes. She was almost half naked and her black thighs were tattered too.

"Sendai." Takao said softly and unmaterialized her battle riggings before stepping foot on solid ground.

"Well we did actually scare Atago off. At least the soldiers on Ube harbor were eager enough to burn the old city of Nakatsu for us. I just hope those boys aren't going to be fired at their jobs since they disobeyed their orders to not fire a single round." Sendai walked towards Takao and gave her a blue cap. "A parting gift from her"

Takao felt her cheeks suddenly heated up and her eyes started to moist as she felt the texture of the blue sailor cap. It was a bit wet and full of soot but it didn't bother her, after all this blue sailor cap belonged to her second sister, Atago.

"Aneki." A voice came to her ears, Takao turned her head towards the origin of that voice and saw her third and fourth sister, Maya and Choukai respectively.

"Let's bring back Atago-nee to the naval base." Maya raised her fist and made a wide smile. Beside her Chouka the fourth ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers only nodded.

"Alright, enough with the family reunion the bombardment has already ceased and that is the time for our second offensive to begin. All shipgirls get to the ocean now!" Sendai turned around and rallied up the resting shipgirls on the ground. "Takao, Kuma won't be able to help us right now and no reinforcements will be coming since Ooyodo has restricted this operation with just three fleets."

Restricted to three fleets?! Is Ooyodo punishing me or did she think this impromptu operation is just too easy that she only allowed three fleets to take part in this. A faint voice echoed inside Takao's head but she shrugged it aside and focused on the tasked on hand.

"Alright, since you look like you have a plan we'll be following you around." Takao replied.

"Actually this is Kuma's plan not mine. I am implementing the second phase of her plan which is luring Atago out of the city."

"Then?"

"Third phase should start now which is bringing Atago back home. The only problem left now is defeating her…" Sendai glanced to the side and made a tired sigh as she scratched the back of her head.

"And you can't defeat her." Takao made an honest guess.

"It's not like I can't defeat her. She is just too good for me, she's a heavy cruiser escorted with four battleships and a lot of destroyers. We just successfully sank a battleship and a quarter of the said destroyer escorts. And we already took too much damage from doing it."

Takao glanced at the burning city before glancing back at Wakaba who is fixing her burned out necktie.

"I'll take care of Atago. You should buy me some time by distracting her escorts away." Takao said with a deep tone.

"Takao-nee!" Choukai called.

"We'll come with you. You need heavy firepower to defeat Atago. Two heavy cruiser and eight destroyers aren't enough to defeat her." Maya shouted.

Takao made a confident smile and put her foot at the waving sea. She summoned her battle riggings and glanced back at her sisters.

"Who said I'll be bringing my fleet with me?" Takao said softly and sailed off at top speed.

"That idiot is going to kill herself!" Wakaba yelled and jumped at the ocean, chasing after Takao's fading figure.

"Ah—" Choukai tried stopping them but Sendai gently stopped her by pulling her hand down.

Kinugasa and the rest of the destroyers under Sendai's command followed, leaving Sendai's original fleet and Kuma's heavy cruiser detachment alone on the makeshift naval base.

"She is still the name ship of her class. At least give her the chance to prove her worth." Sendai said.

"And if she sinks will you take responsibility?!" Maya shouted back.

Sendai walked back and slightly tilted her head to the right with a smug smile on her face.

"Who said she's going to sink?" Sendai continued. "We will be supporting her by distracting the main force of Atago's fleet. I sure hope two heavy cruisers, a lone light cruiser and a group of AA destroyers is going to do the job."

~o~

Twenty Minutes Later

In the past the total ship limit of every fleet during a sortie was around six ships due to the lack of shipgirls at that time. But now with the ever increasing number of shipgirls that old limit was removed and an increased amount of shipgirls are allowed to be inserted in a single fleet. However this so called fleets like the Main Battle Fleet that Takao is managing is not a permanent one. It's a temporary fleet that is formed only whenever an escort mission has been compromised or an urgency of heavy firepower support is needed. When a major operation is conducted this temporary fleet is immediately abolished and the ships listed in that said fleet is redirected to their original fleet divisions.

As of today the 8th Main Battle Fleet that is comprised of two heavy cruisers and eight destroyers has reached its one year anniversary since its formation. The 8th or The Overused 8th Fleet has been through numerous sorties that include escort sorties, emergency rescue sorties and interception sorties.

"None of you guys should've followed me." Takao says on the intercoms.

"Hey now, at least be happy that no one is complaining about your rash decision making skills you know?" Wakaba replied.

"Rash decision making skills?! Are you bashing me?" Takao yelled furiously.

"That was just my own opinion." Wakaba continued.

There was this long pause before the silence was broken once more by a loud echoing bombardment of 20cm cannons and 100mm twin mounted cannons.

"Uwah, it's very chaotic!" A faint voice chattered on the intercoms.

Takao glanced to the side and saw the youngest member of the fleet Odake; a late war Tachibana-class DD; staring at the skies above the burning Nakatsu city. Flak fire overwhelmed the small drones that were flying above the city and the green larger drones were closing in too. Sendai and her fleet of AA destroyers were intercepting these larger drones that had green paint on their bodies.

"This is the first time the fleet has been in a chaotic operation like this one. Let's not hinder the other fleets and focus on closing in on the city and luring Atago out." Takao replied whilst inserting an ammo canister on her first and second turret.

"Lastly, I wouldn't want to sail near the shore too." Kinugusa replied.

"What makes you—"Takao paused and then glanced on her right. "Enemy off starboard!" Takao shouted at the intercoms.

Today was nighttime and the illumination done by the great fire of the city of Nakatsu and the flak rounds flashing on the sky were the only ones helping them see through the dark. Takao was only able to detect the enemy fleet two kilometers away because she sortied with an outdated surface radar attached on her rigging. Although outdated it was still enough since they were able to detect the enemy at a much further distance rather than facing them at close range. Lastly, only Takao has a surface radar attached on her riggings the others did not.

"Firing star shells!" Harutsuki shouted from behind.

"No wait, let them come closer first. We only sortied with three star shells on our disposal we need to make them count." Wakaba pushed Harutsuki's 100mm twin cannons down. "I'll close in with the searchlight. Once I illuminate one with my searchlight fire two star shells at once so that I wouldn't be focused on by the enemy fleet." She added.

Harutsuki nodded and inserted two stars shells on her first twin 100mm turret. After that Wakaba sailed pass Takao and prepared her searchlight.

"Ugh, I have a bad feeling with this one…" Wakaba muttered as she passes Takao who has pointed her two turrets at the side.

Wakaba increased her speed and closed in. She then attached the searchlight on her right shoulder and pressed the on button which was on the top of the searchlight. Seconds later a power beam of light illuminated her field of vision discovering two Chi-class light cruisers and a single Ta-class battleship with shocked expressions.

She too had a shocked expression, after all she just discovered the enemy fleet with a distance of 500 meters. That is already too close for her sake and a rain of thought came to her head.

"How could they close the distance that fast?!"

The moment Wakaba illuminated the head of the first Chi-class the Ta-class near her fired its 16 inch Triple gun turrets on Wakaba out of instinct but misses her. With swift movements Wakaba immediately pressed the on button on the searchlight again to turn it off whilst at the same time pressed the transmission button of her radio.

"Now! Fire the star shells now!"

A second later two star shells were fired on the sky illuminating the dark waters of Nakatsu city within a five kilometer radius. And inside that five kilometer radius is an oversized fleet of destroyers and cruisers led by a single Ta-class battleship.

The hairs of Wakaba's body immediately stood up, screaming to her to run away and regroup with the others. As she did that the enemy Chi-class light cruisers and Ni-class destroyers rained hell upon her.

"Fuck!" Wakaba screamed but before she fired all her 61cm torpedoes or long lance torpedoes at the abyssal fleet forming a line abreast.

Out of the nine torpedoes launched as her first salvo six hit their targets sinking two light cruisers and four destroyers after that she high tailed back to the rest of her fleet.

"Takao I just found myself a fleet of destroyers and light cruiser!" Wakaba shouted at the radio.

"Don't worry. First shelling salvo coming right up!" Takao replied with a bang.

Whistling red projectiles pass over Wakaba's head and landed directly on the abyssal fleet. Then the second salvo was fired sinking more ships and than the third salvo.

Three salvos were fired and around 14 destroyers' were sank and 6 light cruisers crippled. That was before Wakaba linked up with the rest of the fleet.

With a pant, Wakaba finally linked up with the rest and reported what she saw.

"There are a lot of them, and the flagship seems to be that lone Ta-class over there!" Wakaba pointed out.

Takao nodded and sailed first, she then ordered the rest of her fleet to make a port echelon formation.

"We need to focus down all the remaining DD's and CL's first then that Ta-class later." Takao said on the radio and prepared for the fourth volley.

With a gritting noise the Ta-class on the opposite side waved her hand at the side ordering her fleet of destroyers and cruiser to fire at the eight shipgirls.

Volley after volleys they fired; some of them missing and some of them hitting their targets. Their barrels steaming hot and their ammunition starting to decrease drastically as every AP and HE rounds were fired. Takao's fleet and the Ta-class' fleet danced in circles trying to take an advantage on one another, like a tango dance gracefully dancing on the floor.

Then a stray round hit Arare on the head disabling her almost immediately. Her gray cap burned slightly signifying that she was hit with an HE round. With that said, Takao was forced to stop her fleet and formed an arrow formation around Arare.

"Arare!" Odake grabbed Arare's floating body. Her eyes were closed and soot covered her upper body.

"Looks like she was knocked unconscious from that round. Odake tug her around until we finish off the last batch of stragglers." Kinugasa says.

Nodding, Odake swung Arare's arm around her neck and started carrying her while the rest of the fleet formed a Line Abreast formation.

"Drop all torpedoes at the enemy fleet they are crossing us in parallel this time!" Takao shouted.

A wave full of 61cm torpedoes raced towards the enemy fleet, half of them hitting their targets.

"Raaaaaaaaa!" The Ta-class yelled and rushed straight at Akikusa.

Kinugasa standing at the rear saw the Ta-class and rushed in between. Successfully stopping the Ta-class with a flying fist, she then stuffed a single barrel of her 20cm cannon at the Ta-class' mouth followed by a muffled explosion.

"First Battleship killed!" Kinugusa smiled wiping away the black blood sprayed around her face and her white uniform.

"Would you do something about that once we return home? You stink!" Suzukaze sailed beside her and started spraying some salt water on Kinugasa's face.

A smile emerged from Kinugasa's lips as she watched the panting expression of her colleague, Suzukaze.

Sporting a dark blue hair in twin tails tied together by ribbons. She also wears a sleeveless serafuku and elbow gloves.

"Alright, that's the last one." Takao said.

Suzukaze wiped away the sweat from her temples using her left hand whose gloves was half burnt from the recent naval battle. It was at this moment that something irked at the back of Suzukaze's neck. She turned around but saw nothing so she turned her direction again to the front and saw Atago's towering figure peering over her shocked expression.

Her long black jacket that reaches her knees slightly burned and her white one piece dress had holes all over. Her eyes were pinned straight at Suzukaze's small figure and the only thing that's separating them was Atago's left turret resting at Suzukaze's chest.

Kinugasa saw a black figure passing her vision but she did not expect Atago to be the one passing her. Even though Kinugasa was standing beside Suzukaze like five feet away she could not raise her portable turret on her hand.

Not because she was scared but because something was preventing her from raising it. It was as if time has stopped for her. Kinugasa watched Atago rising her hand slowly whilst at the same time her head slightly tilting to the left. A smile was slowly forming on Atago's face.

"Hello, Suzukaze-chan!" Atago said chirpily.

A second later Suzukaze's body was thrown 600 meters away from Atago's left turret and was engulfed by black smoke. As the smoke fades Suzukaze's body was already floating at the ocean with her head facing downward.

Kinugasa wasted no time to close in and pulled the trigger of her portable turret scoring a direct hit on Atagao's head with a single salvo. The gray smoke fades and not a single scratch could be seen on Atago's cheeks.

"I really like being hit on the face you know!" Atago jumped to close the distance and slams a fist at Kinugasa's face. "Say, how about I give you the same treatment?" Atago spoke as Kinugasa tried recovering from that sudden attack but was unable to stop Atago's 20.3cm guns that were pointed straight at her face.

A scream, a loud shrieking scream echoes around the dark oceans of Nakatsu Harbor. Takao realized it too late, how close they were at the city harbor where Atago's whereabouts were lastly reported. Kinugasa's screams entered her ears like a siren so she increased her speed to the maximum knots and saw her sister smiling in front of the crouched heavy cruiser.

She hesitated. She hesitated for about five seconds as she turned her eyes up and down, scanning every nook and cranny of Atago's figure. She uttered a faint voice but it was never heard because Kinugasa's cries out-pitched it.

"What are you staring there for?! Fire!" Wakaba sailed pass Takao and fired her guns missing Atago's shoulder in paper thin distance.

"heh..." Atago laughed silently as she sailed in reverse, away from them.

"W-wait!" Takao called but was stopped by a sudden volley of 20.3cm shells hitting her on the thigh and right kidney.

Blood spilled out of Takao's mouth as she realized that her armor failed to protect her from Atago's shells. Takao placed a hand on her mouth trying to stop her urge to vomit and another hand on her bleeding side.

"Ughh!" Takao cough out.

Takao lowers her upper body to the side trying to zero in her left turret at her sister, Atago. Two shells were fired both of them missed, to compensate she fired a salvo of torpedoes ahead of Atago's course.

Atago made a sudden stop, immediately removing her 20 knot momentum to a quick stop and then she increased her speed again to 20 knots whilst at the same time changing course to port.

Wiping away the blood on her mouth, Takao pressed her radio's transmission button and issued her orders.

"Wakaba check if Kinugasa is okay, Kuretake get Suzukaze's body...we don't want her to sink and if she's in a bad state immediately detach from the area and reach a nearby friendly harbor with Odake. I'll cover your retreat."

"Roger!" Kuretake replied on the radio.

"Kinugasa lost both of her eyes and a third degree burn all over her face. It looks like she won't be able to see nor speak until we retreat back to Yokosuka." Wakaba replied.

"Suzukaze's gone! I repeat Suzukaze's knocked out!" Kuretake replied with a worried tone.

Takao increased her speed, chasing after her retreating sister who was laughing continuously like a madman.

"Alright Wakaba, Kuretake and Odake go back Yokosuka right now. That includes you too Numakaze."

"But I can still fight! I can support you if you wanted me to!" Numekaze replied with a furious tone.

"Wakaba needs your help carrying Kinugasa! You are also the only who is capable of covering them while I fend off Atago! Go now while Atago is still running away from me!" Takao urged on the radio.

Slowly Takao was gaining behind Atago who appears to be decreasing in speed. Slowly Takao prepared her AP rounds on each turret and zeroed in on Atago.

"Go now!" Takao shouted.

Takao fired her first salvo of AP round scoring a single penetration hit on Atago's right calf. This lowered Atago' speed. Atago turned around and fired six HE rounds. Takao tried maneuvering away from Atago's line of fire but two HE rounds landed their targets.

"IyaaaaaaaaaahhH!" Takao screamed as she tried to remove the fire around her body.

Takao tried making a steep turn and used her hands as a lift on the current to wash away the fire. She succeeded but her fourth and third turrets were now out of action. With burns on her neck, arms and a bit of her back she slowly opened her eyes again.

"Casualty report" She uttered to herself while dodging two HE rounds from Atago.

"OI!OI!OI! (120 fairies dead, half of them were engulfed by the fire!)" A fairy replied.

Takao focused her attention to the fairy standing on top of her left turret waving her hands around. This fairy had a short black hair and red eyes but she was wrapped full of bandages around her body and blood could be seen underneath those bandages.

"OiOiOiOiOiOi! (Left turret has ten AP rounds left while the right turret has four HE rounds left! What do we do?)" The fairy asked.

"Like we always do! Push on and defeat the enemy. You guys have been with me for a year now and only now are you showing dubious looks?!" Takao shouted at the fairy.

"OiOiOioooooIIIII! (We can't risk losing you like this! We have to pull back for repairs and fight back for another day!)" The fairy tried her best to persuade Takao.

But Takao only replied with a forceful no. She has to defeat her sister now, who knows when she will have the chance to face her again. They've sacrificed too much already for this. They have to end this now.

"Furthermore, I cannot go back empty handed to my sisters and the rest of the shipgirls who admire my sister dearly!" Takao elevated her turret into a 45 degree angle and fired two HE rounds.

Atago made a dodge to the right before firing her own right turret at Takao scoring two penetration rounds with AP.

Takao's legs were hit, crippling her. With sporadic breathing she tried removing two AP rounds from the left turret but was stopped halfway when suddenly Atago fired a single shell at the left turret destroying it effectively.

"Dammit!" Takao cursed and inserted two AP rounds at the right turret.

With a curse, Takao waited for Atago to sail in a straight line before firing her two remaining torpedoes on the water. She gave a bit of lead before ordering her fairies to fire the torpedo launchers.

As the topedoes sailed on the water, Atago was hit on her right leg. Her leg was designated and the contents of her stomach was exposed in the open.

In haste, Takao urged her fairies to quickly repair the engine. The fairies managed to fix the engines and Takao was able to sail towards Atago in ten knots.

Atago was already down on the water, the surrounding waters covered with her black blood.

Not wanting to be defeated by the pesky shipgirl in front of her Atago called one of her minions and ordered it to tug her towards the city.

"Dammit she's getting away!" Takao yelled.

"Takao we have successfully pulled the wounded back to the staging area. Where the hell are you?" Wakaba's voice echoed out of Takao's radio.

Takao heeded no attention to that question. She just continued following her sister towards Nakatsu city's river canal.

Takao fired her last remaining AP rounds, hitting Atago at the lower back and shoulders. Takao then tried to keep up but the distance between her and Atago kept increasing.

The fairies did what they could to the damaged engine but they could not get more knots out of it.

The destroyer that was tugging Atago's body then entered a large sewage entrance. Two large abyssals could be seen guarding the entrance but Takao easily eliminated them by beating them with sheer strength.

"Turning on searchlight." Takao says as the fairies armed the AA guns on Takao's rigging.

Sailing on the dark filthy waters of the canal Takao slowly examined the walls...she picked up the remains of the abyssal destroyer that tugged her sister's body but there were no signs of her sister around. As Takao approached the end of the sewage pipe an assaulting stench entered her nose.

Takao found herself standing in front a large sewage dumping area. Black biomass could be seen all over the place. The stench was a bit bearable but Takao cursed for not having a gas mask with her.

"You still followed me here...shipgirl?" Asked a pained voice.

Takao turned her eyes towards the center. A body could be seen surrounded by the black biomass. It was her sister Atago.

"Atago!" Takao called.

"Sush it shipgirl...I will deal with you later..." Atago says with a fleeting tone.

"I've came to bring you back! I will defeat you here and definitely bring you back to Yokosuka."

Abyssal Princess Nakatsu only stared at the shipgirl that kept calling her Atago. The short haired, red eyed, shipgirl that luckily struck her with two torpedoes. The abyssal princess cursed for underestimating this shipgirl.

"I haven't fought with other shipgirls before..This would be my first time being crippled this badly...I wonder if Fuck-san would look down on me now for being incompetent." Atago says with a low tone.

Takao furrowed as she listened to her sister mumbling. But she heard it clearly, she heard the nickname of the bastard that discovered Atago's whereabouts.

"What the hell are you talking about...?" Takao questioned once more as she examined her surroundings...filled with the black biomass.

"Once I'm done healing my wounds I will defeat you here. I will then find that man and force him to have coitus with me...Hahahahahheheheh...I can't waaait."

Takao paused and stared at her sister's pitiful state. Her white-pale looking skin ragged like it was hit by a storm. Her face half burnt due to the HE shells that hit her, and the mental state she was in...Takao was having none of it. Takao only want one thing, and one thing only. To bring her sister back.

Shaking her head, Takao then pulled a depth charge from her rigging, flipped the pin on her depth charges then threw her depth charges on the walls where the biomass were sticking. She knew that if she was get her sister out of the lump of biomass she would have to start removing the biomass' supports that were sticking on the walls

The explosion brought a loud ringing sound on Takao's ears, blood could be seen seeping out of her ears. However her sister was still not free from the biomass that was surrounding her so Takao threw another depth charge on the large biomass dump that was surrounding her sister.

"What are you doing?! My eggs, you are hurting my children!" Abyssal princess Nakatsu also formerly known as Atago yelled in agony as she watches the eggs that were covered in biomass burning.

Takao furrowed hearing her sister say children. As she looked closely she saw multiple orange eggs lumped together near her sister. Takao understood immediately what this place was. It was not a hideout where the abyssmalufied Atago could hide and heal. No, this place is a hatchery.

And Takao knew that she must do something about those eggs. Without hesitation she threw a depth charge right on the eggs. When it exploded the eggs were a damaged slightly however the biomass that was covering them were still intact.

The orange eggs that was covered in biomass brightly luster revealing the contents of the eggs. It had a shape of a humanoid fetus that was about to enter a certain stage of growth. Takao could see vividly how the fluids inside boiled, killing the fetus inside the eggs.

Abyssal princess Nakatsu tried freeing herself from the biomass that was wrapped around her but she couldn't. The biomass has already solidified like cement.

"Stop it! Stop it you are killing my children!" The abyssal princess wailed.

Takao only stared at the boiling eggs in disgust. With another depth charge on her hand, Takao threw it at the boiling eggs.

The eggs popped, the contents sprawled all over the floor. Red blood covered the ground, walls, and even Takao's blue uniform dress.

"For years I've been looking for you. What have the abyssals done to you...?" Takao says as she slowly approached the large fetuses that survived the blast.

"What are you doing?! Stop!"

"This abomination..." Takao coldly says as she watched the fetus slightly moving on the ground, "These things must not see the light of day." She continued before stabbing the fetuses one by one with her combat knife.

The abyssal formerly named Atago finally managed to break loose from the biomass. With her right hand she crawled on the ground trying her best to reach the shipgirl. Tears of red coming out of her eyes...and inside her, feelings of dread and loss boiled.

"I've had enough of this..." Takao says as she grabbed the abyssal from the neck and slams her into the ground.

With a pained grunt the abyssal princess turned her head around towards the red eyed shipgirl.

"Akashi told me what to do in order bring you back into your senses..." Takao muttered, "If killing you here is the only option then..."

With the combat knife on her hand Takao unmaterialized her riggings and stepped foot on the concrete floor. She then grabbed her sister by the hair and sliced her neck cleanly with the combat knife.

The blood spurted out like a water hose. Takao then released her sister's hair and lets her thrash on the ground, a cold expression could be seen on her face and her red eyes filled with darkness.

Atago was speaking but Takao couldn't understand her due to the amount of blood that was clogging the abyssal's mouth.

Abyssal Princess Nakatsu tried her best to cover the wound but she already lost too much blood. Slowly the life was sucked out of her body as she stared at the person that killed her children and slit her throat.

Slowly, she lost control over her eyes. She felt nauseated, she felt weak, her body was heavy...and as the time goes by—Abyssal Princess Nakatsu died in her hatchery surrounded by a black puddle of blood.

"Takao?! We're at the previous sector where we broke off. Where the fuck are you?" Wakaba's voice echoed around the burning hatchery.

Takao only silently stared at her deceased sister, specifically she stared at the biomass sticking out of her sister's body.

With a click of her tongue, Takao kneeled on her sister's body and started removing the biomass using her combat knife.

The fairies watched silently as their shipgirl carved the body of the deceased abyssal princess open, removing the biomass that littered the insides if the abyssals body.

~o~

"It looks like the recovery team arrived safely." Kuma spoke with a tired tone as she washes away the black fluids off her body.

"Do you realize that you just fend off a fleet of battleships and two carriers?! I mean how the hell did you pulled that off with just a fleet of five light cruisers and four destroyers?!" A destroyer spoke with a shocked expression.

Kuma made a smile and started removing the shrapnel's on her shirt.

"Mines my little Nagatsuki, mines…." Kuma replied with a cocky tone to the relief fleet flagship that Ooyodo sent.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **Updated 02-25-2019**


	22. Curses and Repetition

**Curses and Repetition**

* * *

 **Updated 02-27-2019**

* * *

 **February 5, 2051**

 **Yokosuka Naval Base**

Letting out a long sigh, a small shipgirl that manifested the soul and being of an auxiliary ship docked herself on the sortie area underneath the shipgirl dormitory. She was holding a cylindrical object from Russia containing small amounts of experimental bauxite that Akashi and the former battleship Asahi requested.

After placing her docking ticket on a small terminal she finally removed her shipgirl riggings that carried the cylindrical object, that was six feet long and three feet wide, on her shoulder.

"Ah good morning, Nagatsuki-chan!" A destroyer type shipgirl named Minazuki ran pass her and immediately jumped on the water together with her fleet of destroyers.

"Ah, hello…" Nagatsuki replied but the figures of the destroyer fleet were nowhere to be seen. The water catapults on the docks were already launched signifying that Minazuki's fleet of destroyers had already sortied.

Turning around, Nagatsuki passed a wall full of unfulfilled missions and emergency missions that were just finished. She stopped at the middle and saw an emergency notice on the Northern Sea Region.

"Wow that's a lot of Northern Sea Region sorties for a single day…those warship-type shipgirls really do not have a single day off…..unlike us auxiliary-type shipgirls." Nagatsuki said in awe as she saw 16 fleets sortied on the Northern Sea Region.

Being a non-combatant that she was, Nagatsuki haven't seen any action for over three years ever since her summoning. Whenever she was sortied near a battle zone she would only arrive too late to see the action, and could only awe at the damages done by the shipgirls to the abyssals, and the damages done by the abyssals to the shipgirls.

She however was not fortunate by it since among the auxiliary shipgirls currently summoned in the combined fleet, she is the only one who hasn't seen or tasted what a naval battle is like. This only made her feel out of place from the rest of the battle proven shipgirls in the combined fleet.

"I wonder what the tallies are for this month…." Nagatsuki walked towards the tally section of the wall and saw every single fleet that was formed, ranging from the _Main Battle Fleets_ to the _Transportation Fleets_ listed on the wall. The shipgirl's named was also listed underneath the said fleet and tally marks were written right beside the shipgirl's name.

The first thing that caught her attention was the large number of asterisk marks, which signifies the number of abyssals sunk on battle, drawn on a certain fleet. The asterisk, sometimes called trophy asterisk, is an _eight-pointed_ asterisk with each side of that asterisk signifying a single abyssal sunk regardless of type.

"It looks like Zuikaku-san has been abused a lot these days." The small auxiliary shipgirl said.

Currently resting on the second spot of abyssals sunk in battle is the 5th Main Battle Fleet, with over 1000 asterisk listed, a total of 8000 abyssals sunk. And the half of it came from a revered standard carrier named Zuikaku with over 500 asterisk listed on her name…a total of 4000 abyssals sunk.

"If you think about it she's about to walk pass Atago's 5449 achievement mark…." Nagatsuki muttered with a surprised tone.

"Hmm? I don't think she's going to bypass me any longer you know? Hehehe" A familiar voice came to her ear.

Turning around she saw a towering figure wearing a blue jacket and a blue sailor's cap. She was slightly leaning over and was reading each and every shipgirl listed on the wall. With a shocked expression and a stuttering tone she was only able to voice out a single phrase.

"Who are you?!" Nagatsuki's voice echoed inside the sortie area like a loud emergency siren.

The blond haired shipgirl with green eyes was rather shocked by the small shipgirl's behavior. Furrowing her eyes the blonde examined the small shipgirl from top to bottom. Brown hair with yellowish eyes, wearing a white outfit that almost looked like a sushi chief, the blonde was indeed puzzled by the shipgirl's attire and size.

"You are too small to be a destroyer and you don't look like a destroyer escort neither..." The blonde softly muttered.

Realizing the rudeness of her action Nagatsuki introduced herself by bowing down and stating her name and shipgirl type. Nagatsuki then raised her head and saluted the tall blonde.

"Oh, an auxiliary type...Haven't met one before." The blonde says, resting her right hand on her cheek.

Immediately, Nagatsuki's initial thoughts were _the blonde is probably a new one._ However when the blonde finally stated her name and type, Nagatsuki was in a loss of words.

"Second ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers! Atago!" She says with a bright smile.

Nagatsuki's stomach sank inside her. Right in front of her was the infamous _first summon_ in the Combined Fleet. The shipgirl that has the highest asterisk and a copious amounts of sorties in the early days of the war.

"Say your name is kinda familiar...It's like I've heard that name before." Atago says with a puzzled tone.

Nagatsuki stared at the shipgirl's green eyes that suddenly turned grim at the moment the shipgirl gave thought to Nagatsuki's name. She felt her spine sting and her legs unconsciously moving away from the veteran shipgirl.

"Ah, Atago!" Then a jubilant call came to Nagatsuki's ears.

It was the short haired-red eyed Takao, Atago's older sister. Running in haste the older sister then suddenly slapped the younger sister at the back of her head yelling words like "Why did you skip the lecture? Akashi was pretty mad you know?"

Nagatsuki only listened silently as the older sister dragged the younger sister away from Nagatsuki, and to her surprise the grim look that Atago had a while ago was no longer there...rather it somehow vanished.

~o~

 **February 6, 2051**

There are two soldiers currently sitting on the harbor gutter with ice cream stuffed inside their large mouths. One had a chocolate flavored ice cream and the other had a caramel flavor with chocolate soup dipped at the tip.

But you wouldn't see the ice creams since they are already deformed inside the mouths of these carefree soldiers from a certain island nation somewhere at the south eastern part of the South China Sea.

"Did you know, Val, that Fuck-san's so called _girlfriend_ returned home with revealing clothes?" A soldier with a pale looking skin and a buzz cut hair spoke to his friend named Pvt. Romeo 'Val' Valdez.

"Yes I knew, Vas. Sel wouldn't shut-up about it ever since she saw Atago back at the quarry." Val replied to his friend Cpl. Emel 'Vas' Vasquez.

Val licked the lower part of his cone before finishing it off with a single chump. Crunching the cone inside his mouth, Val decided to stand up and walked towards a nearby tree.

"Even though Sel is a woman too she wouldn't shut-up about how large Atago's breasts are and how they look _somewhat unrealistic to her_." Val faced a nearby tree and unzipped his zipper.

Still seated, Vas finished eating his ice cream and stood up, waiting for his friend Val to finish abusing the poor tree in front of him.

"For fuck sakes please learn some environmental manners you know? If the marine guards saw you doing this who knows what Admiral Goto's gonna do with you!" Vas said with a hand resting on his face trying to deny the behavior his best friend is doing.

"Oh what are you afraid of? You knew me from way back and you bloody hell knew how rebellious I am regarding about this thing called _manners_." Val replied before squeezing out the last remains of his piss and zipped his pants closed.

Val walked away from the poor tree and walked pass Vas who was still doing a face palm pose.

"Anyway, have you heard about the situation that we are under in?" Val asked.

Vas finally accepted the truth about his best friend's behavior and decided that face palming is not going to fix his best friend's manners so he decided to walk after Val.

"Regarding Fuck-san's death? Yeah, it looks like Lomo is going to take charge now." Vas replied with a sour tone.

"I mean who would've survived that? A broken cranium, broken vertebrae, a broken spinal cord, and two broken limbs.." Val shudders as he tried placing himself in that situation.

"Well don't ask me. Ask our now deceased commanding officer." Vas replied with a sigh.

Reaching their destination which was the shipgirl dormitory. This building currently serves as their barracks for the time being.

Vas and Val walked along the hallway until they reached their resting room where fellow soldiers under Fustaku's command rest. The room was practically empty and a single person could be seen resting on the bunks.

"Oh well if it isn't the two idiots." Says the only female soldier in the outfit.

"Piss off, Sel. Lomo and the second squad haven't arrived yet?" Asked the skinny guy named Val.

Sel shook her head and reposition herself on her bed into a more comfortable position. "Neither Lomo, second squad, and the remaining soliders of are squadron could be found." She then groaned and threw the book she was reading entitled _Metro 2033_ to the wall.

"Don't you have any books for me to read? I've already read that book for six days already and it still doesn't answer why Artyom killed the Dark Ones if the Dark ones only wanted peace!" Sel complained and rest her right arm on her head.

Val sat on his respective bunk and removed his top uniform and replaced it with a gray skin-tight tshirt.

"If only Mop didn't use the second book as toilet paper back in 2048 you could've known why he did it." Val explained.

"True, though I believe what happened on the second book was pretty anticlimactic. I expected something like Artyom pulling the switch of the time bomb, killing every single one of the communist in that bloody bunker." Vas said as he removed his thick leather boots.

"Well that's kinda dark isn't it? Won't his w-"

"Jesus christ enough with the spoilers already!" Sel threw her leather boots at Val who was fortunate enough that the metal soles didn't hit his face.

Metro 2033 is a post-apocaliptic fictional novel by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It is set in the Moscow Metro, where the last survivors hide after a global nuclear holocaust. With the surface filled with radiation the people were forced to live in the dark spaces of Moscow Metro. Mutants were now the apex predators on the surface and the humans who are living in the metro are endangered by these mutants who hunt for them as meal.

For the four sci-fi junkies in the outfit: Sel, Vas, Val, and Zeno; Metro 2033 was something that they can relate themselves to, of course minus the nuclear holocaust.

"I just wish they can release the fourth book already. I'm dying to know what happened after they reached Vladivostok." Val added with a deep sigh.

"Well that's unfortunate for us because Sir. Glukhovsky has been drafted in the Russian Army and nobody even knows if he is still alive or not." Vas explained.

Fuming in anger, Sel stood up from her bed and grabbed the nearest object that was close to her which was a dud hand grenade.

"I said . .dammit!" Sel yelled in with an elaborate pace.

Naturally the two males thought it was a live grenade and that the pin was pulled. In haste they ran out of the room and hid thenselves inside their now deceased commanding officer's room. Which was now vacant.

"Its been five seconds...Goddammit it was the dud grenade Sel found back at the quarry." Val said in a relieved tone.

,Resting his left arm on his right temple, Val turned around and flipped the light switch of Fustaku's office.

"There are other sci-fi books here at LT's room so we could just laze around until Lomo and the others arrive, for now let's just read some books."

Just as he finished that sentence, sitting with his legs resting on the wooden table, with a tablet on his hand and a milkshake on the other, 2nd Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku stared at his soldiers with a shocked expression.

"Fuck."

"LIEUTENANT?! The two soldiers yelled in unison.

 **Chapter End**


	23. Square One

**Square One**

* * *

 **Updated 3-25-2019**

* * *

 **Present Day**

 **Lieutenant Fustaku's Office**

 **February 7, 2051**

Seated in five lines and three columns are the soldiers under my command. They were looking at me with shocked eyes like they've seen a ghost or something, well I don't blame them. Just a night before, Asahi made a stupid remark about me officially listed as KIA or in words killed in action, despite the fact that I was still recovering inside Akashi's shop.

"Alright, since Lomo here has already sent the paperworks that Admiral Goto wanted about the StA 409 and the succeeding sorties after, the admiral decided that we deserve a proper day off for our outstanding work." I said in anticipation that they will be screaming in happiness but instead they replied with silence.

I was baffled really, I mean these guys should be happy that they are receiving a day off which is almost nonexistent in the current state of the 501st Legion. I mean when was the last time we ever had a day off? Five years ago? Before we were blockaded here in Japan? Yeap that long!

"Oy, what's with the long faces? Don't you guys want to spend your time in the city like a normal tourist? Don't you guys want to visit a local mall, do some shopping perhaps or maybe just laze around in a local bar or something?" I asked them.

But none of them replied because they were busy staring at me with dilated eyes.

"You're alive….aren't you?" Suddenly I heard a voice from the back. It was the voice of the female member of the group, Sel.

"Well yes, can't you see that I am standing here?" I replied with a joking tone while crossing my arms.

Then one of the front liners finally decided to stand up; with a cowered body; he walked in front of me. It was the point man of the first platoon, Pvt. Benedict 'Ursa' Ursal.

He approached me with a stern expression and a pointed finger. This pointing finger slowly approached me until it was resting on my stomach. Ben then suddenly jerked back to the chairs knocking the first line with his sudden movement.

"He is alive!" Ben shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What?! How?! How could you recover from those wounds?! Aren't you supposed to be in heaven right now?!" The platoon driver, Pvt. Mophisto 'Mop' Cardinal shouted with his hand pointing right at me.

"And another thing, when we came back here we checked your pulse and you were deep bottom zero! YOU HAD NO PULSE SO HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!" Pointman of third squad, Pvt. Carlos 'Rem' Remera voiced out.

Sobbing from the back, Sel wiped away her tears and the soldiers beside her were patting her back. She then raised her head and spoke with regret.

"Bring back the tears I've shed for you back then!" She yelled.

I was knocked back stupefied by the things my subordinates were shouting at me. I mean most of the soldiers in this platoon were under my command when I was still the commanding officer of Una Company, except for the squadron leaders though since they came from a different unit.

"Come on now, you guys don't need to be emotional like that. Anyway every single one of you should think about the things that you are going to do once I told the marine guards to give us a boat to reach the mainland. But I warn you guys, do not do idiotic behaviors once we arrive at Marine Self-Defense Force Vessels Depot Office. Once we get there we will be parting ways and go on our respective wanted destinations." I said with a soft tone.

The others were making bright smiles and a couple of cheers as the first row that was just trampled over by Ursa fixed their chairs.

"Also did everyone bring the papers and pens that I requested?" I asked.

"Well yeah, we did. What are we going to do with them anyway?" Lomo who was sitting at the front asked.

"Lomo seriously. They are called pen and paper. Use your head." Sgt. Jason 'Borneo' Borromeo said with a half smile while slapping the back of the skinny guy named Lomo.

Lomo only shook his head and rotated the joints of his arms, probably the slap made them stiff but I couldn't tell for sure. I then let out a sigh and answered his question anyway.

"Well, while you guys are having your business you will be taking notes on every behavior that you did on the allowable time frame. In other words every move and every action you made are going to be written on that said paper. Don't look at me like that I am also performing this task too!" I rebuked.

The others were making loud sighs and it annoyed me much to my concern. Anyway since we have a curfew which many of us despised….despite being a day off why are we getting a curfew? I have to end this briefing so that they could immediately savor their own free time.

"With that said, all of you are dismissed…" I said a salute and headed straight to the front door.

"Anyway, lieutenant. What are you going to doing with your day off? "Vas asked me who was sitting on the second row.

"Me? I'll be visiting Yamato to get some stress relief." I replied with a smile.

""YOU FIEND!"" All 15 of them yelled in fury and envy.

~o~

Kure Maritime Museum, Hiroshima

10:30 A.M

What I meant by visiting Yamato to get some stress relieve, I was talking about Yamato replica currently on display at Kure Maritime Museum, Hiroshima. Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to visit this replica. I mean who wouldn't want visit this 1/10 scale model of the Super battleship, Yamato? I know I would.

Also due to my country being a third rated one back in the old days we didn't have our own warships. Just a bunch of outdated ones that were given from the States.

Though I've already met the shipgirl named Yamato, who was towering me two folds in height in her shipgirl form; Seeing this replica right now sure does wipe away the stress that's been building up on my shoulders.

The museum was packed full of visitors today. Especially those who love seeing warship replicas like this one. They had these high tech cameras that made me envious because I only brought my old phone with me and the camera built-in with this thing could only capture images in 360p.

Seriously, despite the fact that this museum is close to the so called Kyushu Operation Zone which is packed full of abyssals the museum is still packed full visitors.

I walked across this panel that had the history on how Yamato was built written in detail. It explained what type of steel was used and how the bulkheads were attached in bolts rather than welding and much more.

Suddenly the lighting that helped me read the words dimmed. I wondering why the lighting dimmed. But then a long slender and heavy hand suddenly rested on my shoulders. I slowly turned my head and saw who this hand belonged to.

"It appears to me that you are interested on how, I Yamato was built." She said in a proud tone.

The towering figure… or to be specific the 190cm height of Yamato was peering over me like a child that's been discovered by his mother doing unpleasant things. She was wearing a casual attire. A one piece dress and a sakura colored sleeves to cover her long arms. She also wore a skintight jean with a matching color of her shoes. At first glance you can't even tell if she was a natural born Japanese citizen or a foreigner stuck in a unfamiliar place.

"I-I was just trying to engross myself with simple history on how you were built. I didn't come here with ulterior motives you know?" I said in English.

"I didn't say anything about you being here with ulterior motives. I was just speaking out the words inside my brain out loud." She replied.

Yamato then lifted her hand from my shoulder and then pointed at her replica.

"Did you know that a certain part of my armor was recovered and was used as a target by Iowa's 16in guns? Too bad though that they could only use a part of my armor…not all of it." She said with a saddened tone.

According to my observations, Yamato's height is almost the same height as the basketball player named Chris Paul, a retired basketball player who was famous back in the states before the war broke out. I myself played basketball during my youth but I immediately found out that I didn't have talent for it.

For me honestly, killing someone is much more...let's just say, I have talent in it rather than doing sports like most youngsters back in the day. Well I couldn't blame them, especially those living in the north, far away from the action that was happening on Visayas and Mindanao...

"Ah they made a mistake with my coning tower! That's rude, how could they make a mistake like that!" She shouted attracting everyone's attention towards her.

Yamato then hurriedly walked towards a neatly suited man who looked like the management of this museum and suddenly grabbed him by the collars.

"You! How could you make a mistake on my coning tower?!" She yelled.

"Buha?! Miss wait I am just a mere manager here. I am not the one who built the Yamato replica. Though, one of the engineers who took part with the construction is currently taking a break inside the management office right now." The poor guy said with a panicked tone.

"I, Yamato, must see this engineer right this instant." Yamato peered closer and spoke with a deep scary tone that I have never heard before.

I hurriedly increased my distance between me and her. I wouldn't want to be included with her shenanigans. I still have places to see and places to visit, I don't want to be included with this problem.

"Ah, Fuck-san where are you going! You are coming with me!" She shouted and grabbed the back of my jacket and hoisted be on her shoulder.

"Tasuketekudasai!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

~o~

I was able to run away before Yamato-san kicked open the management office and started rambling about the wrong construction of her coning tower. I mean really it's just a replica why are you getting worked up with this? Oh right, she is Yamato the super battleship that sank near Okinawa…

Anyway, I wasted around 25 minutes running away from the museum and headed straight to the taxi line and ordered the taxi driver to my next destination which is a small shopping mall on 4 Chome-16-3 Kaigan, Kure-shi, Hiroshima-ken. You might be thinking, why am I going to a far shopping mall when there is a shopping mall near the Yamato Museum?

Well the reason being is that if ever Yamato decides to chase after me the shopping mall right outside Yamato Mueseum would be her first bet where she would start her search. Of course that was just a ruse and I am 2 kilometers away. Pretty good right?

Wrong!

When I came out from the taxi the first thing that caught my eye was Souryuu's figure patiently waiting outside. Her eyes dilated in shock and she immediately rushed forward.

"Ah, Ermest-san what a surprise I didn't expect you to be seeing you here!" She said with the happiest tone.

"Ah, err… yeah. HAHAHA, what a coincidence don't you think?" I replied.

She then tilted her head in wonder and asked with a polite tone.

"What's wrong? You are sweating a lot."

"Ah, err it's pretty hot don't you think? Although today is winter but there's no sight of snow right?!"

"Yes, unfortunately. Anyway are you free today? I am currently meeting Yamato at her namesake museum to get some so called informational education. If you don't mind why don't you come with me." She offered.

"Ah, err. Unfortunately I have other plans. Maybe next time okay?" I said averting eye contact.

"Is-Is-Is that so-so-so….. O-okay well if you excuse me, looks like the taxi driver is waiting for you to pay your bills." She said with a flushed expression.

I turn around and saw the taxi driver raising his hand on the air asking for the payment. I immediately pulled out the required yen as payment and bowed my head. Souryuu waved at me and entered the taxi and smiled before she closed the door.

I could see Souryuu burrowing her face with her two hands and turning her head side to side. What's up with her? I asked myself.

With that said, feeling the hot air on my skin I headed straight to the mall entrance and felt the cold breeze. After raising my hand sideways for the guards to finishing checking if ever I brought anything that could harm civilians, I leaned my back on a metal railing as I tried to rest myself.

"What a day~" I muttered to myself.

J-Pop songs were echoing inside the mall and unfortunately for me, I couldn't understand any of them. Despite being stuck in this country for over four years now, I still couldn't find the motivation to learn Japanese at all. I mean, the officers in that island spoke Japanese and English. The soldiers even the shipgirls could speak English so naturally there was no point to learn the local language at all.

Well that would be the half truth. I did learn a few words, then again they are just a couple of words. Words that you should say to a person to pay respects or words that must be spoken before and after a conversation, minute things like that were naturally learned by the soldiers that were stuck in this foreign land for over four years.

I was deep in my thoughts when I found myself walking along the first floor. According to the mall map that was placed on the wall this floor is where the restaurants are located.

McDonald's, ChowKing, Jollibee, and KFC were the first stores that immediately caught my attention. Despite being western inspired restaurants they were still famous in a country located at the far east of the globe. But I've already gotten tired of eating western foods so I decided to change dishes for a while and entered a Japanese restaurant.

"Welcome~" The girl wearing a long black sleeves and white trousers greeted me with a menu on her hand. She then escorted me to a small table that was good for a single person. She then gave me the menu and asked for my order.

"Thank you." I replied in English.

"Please just press this button over here if you have decided what your order will be." The waiter smiled and walked away.

"Uhuh…"

The table was around my stomach in height and the table was around two inches thick. It was coated with with a deep brown paint making the cut lines on the wood very prominent. A paper could be seen placed near the button that the waiter pointed. It was a set of instructions on how to operate the said button. There were also guidelines indicating not to abuse such button for it will disturb the other customers. There were many rules listed but I didn't have the interest to read them all.

With the menu on my hand I checked what they were serving in this restaurant. Japanese dishes, some western inspired ones, exotic ones, and shakes. Well the cheapest of the bunch was ramen which was around 5000 Yen.

Pressing the button once, the female waiter came back and asked for my order. I gave her a half smile before pointing my index finger on the portrait of the ramen that caught my attention, I then returned the menu to her and was told to wait for about 20 minutes for the ramen to be delivered.

So I waited for about 20 minutes and the ramen arrived less appetizingly.

"Dammit"

~o~

Around 10000 yen was wasted for a bowl of ramen, taxi fare, and lastly the museum entrance fee. I didn't even include the money used to pay for the bullet train from Yokosuka to Hiroshima

I leaned the back of my head against the wall and let out an exasperated sigh. Admiral Goto gave us a large sum of money for our day off today and unfortunately for me I've already wasted a third of it. Anyways since there's still a good ample of hours left for today so there's no need to rush back to base. I've already visited a couple of famous landmarks in Hiroshima, and since this is a mall I should probably visit the gaming center to kill some time.

The gaming center was located at the fourth floor of this building. Approximately 500 meters above the ground floor. There's an elevator located at the center of the mall however there's only two of them, and around 11 people are only allowed to board it at a time.

The mall does have escalators placed on areas where there's an heavy influx of people. For example the first floor's double escalators are located near the four entrances of the mall. There are mini escalators located a few stores away from the larger escalators too.

The nearest one to me was a mini escalator just outside the Japanese Restaurant that I just entered.

If the first floor was a place allocated for restaurants and department stores, the second floor on the other hand was allocated for the furniture stores.

Shelves, furnitures, tables, wooden swings, and other interesting looking furnitures were displayed on the large floor. It was like in a marketplace where people shop for handmade wooden furniture back in my motherland.

There are fabrics being sold as here well with the most famous and on demand fabrics being silk and wool. Which now cost 5000 yen per fabric roll.

The prices of silk and wool being inflated this much was because the silk and wool farms were destroyed. Pretty much all of Japan's silk and wool industry is concentrated on Kyushu.

Which was now in occupied by the abyssals recently.

However, if you think about you. The people who are demanding such fabrics did not care about the recent absence of winter. Wool is pretty much an essential fabric in making winter clothing. But ever since the abyssal war started, Japan hasn't experienced winter for over four years. Making the demand of silk fabrics logical than the high demands for wool.

Temperatures have risen in this country. Temperatures reaching 41 to 42 degrees Celsius. That's pitiful compared to the temperatures that my country experiences daily which was around 48 to 52 degrees Celsius.

The people here are indeed...dehydrated hence the reason why there are many malls being erected throughout Japan. As well as the ever increasing demands for Air Conditioning Units.

Reaching the third floor I was bombarded with the products that were being displayed. The third floor or the appliances floor is what you expect it to be.

High tech refrigerators, OLed Displays, expensive looking cars and even drones flying in the open ceiling. It was a place where electronic geeks like Vas or Borneo dreamed of visiting.

I stumbled upon this store that was selling the latest phones in the market. OLED screens from Samsung or the cheep phones of an unknown company; all sorts of smart-phones could be seen.

"Welcome." A man wearing a blue t-shirt and brown cargo pants approached me with a tablet from apple on his hand.

I waved my hand on him, gesturing him that I was not in the mood to interact. The man who I assumed to be a store worker from apple waved back and gave me a half smile. The man then entered the store with his shoulders slouched.

A couple people like him would come and approach me from to time as I walked along the tiled ground of the third floor. When I finally found an escalator that goes to the fourth floor, I counted twelve people trying to promote their products to me. Being a man who does not like to be informed when shopping, it did annoy me a little bit.

When I reached the fourth floor I was greeted by a couple of female workers wearing a formal attire you typically see worn by flight attendants. They gave me a small sheet of paper with Kanji written at the back. As I read along the lines I came into a conclusion that it was the instructions. I could only understand bits of pieces of the said instruction. It was probably a bingo sheet and I was not in the mood to play bingo so I moved towards a trash bin and threw it away.

Typically when you visit a game center or any game stores in particular you would meet large quantities of children in varying ages. You seldom see college students hanging out on game centers since most of the college students...that I _formerly_ knew are busy playing games on their personal computers, or probably studying in their rooms, or engaging dubious situations. Some you would meet sleeping in bars or randomly meet sleeping on the parking lots drunk, or in worst case scenario shot dead.

The floor that I am currently standing right now was the total opposite. The floor was packed full of people, High-schoolers and College students alike. You can tell which is which based on their badges because in Japan, High-schoolers are issued with a badge placed on their uniforms while the college students are given badges based on the field that they are enrolled in.

For example, a college student that was enrolled in Engineering would be given a badge that has a Phillips screwdriver and a wrench crossed together and a large gear placed at the background.

It was completely different in my country because you can't tell whether the person is a college student or a high school student. Well the reason being is that most college students particularly the males, retain their height back when they were High-schoolers. Well there are some factors like beards and the age of the person clearly visible on their faces but there are special males who are still enrolled in High school having mustaches and beards. Also when I say beards I am not referring to those viking like beards.

"Let's meet with the others.."

"Let's play Kancolle arcade with the guys."

I leaned my chest against the guardrails at the edge of the floor, overlooking the large dome that was placed at the center of the mall. I could see flags being hanged around the dome and at the center was the national flag of the Japanese people. The pure white background and the crimson-red disc at the center, It embodies the country's sobriquet: Land of the Rising Sun.

To some people particularly to those who were under Japanese occupation in the past, that flag symbolizes aggression and imperialism. To me however, that flag symbolizes nothing but the country's nationality. It just a plain white flag with a red dot at the center. That is my satirical look of it, it may anger some people particularly those who are very nationalistic. But really, it's just a flag...

"A country is nothing without its flag." I softly muttered.

I turn my attention towards my left arm. Stitched at the sleeves of my gray long sleeves was a small flag of my homeland. A horizontal blue stripe at the top for peace, truth, and justice and at the bottom a horizontal red stripe for patriotism and valor. At the center of the white triangle is an eight-rayed golden sun symbolizing unity, freedom, people's democracy, and sovereignty. Each ray of the sun represents a province with significant involvement in the revolution against Spain. Three five-pointed stars located one each of the triangle's points, stand for the three major island groups where the revolution started. It was the flag of my countrymen; the flag that united us; the flag that reminded us that we were once a people controlled by the Spanish, Americans, and then the Japanese. It made me feel patriotic just by looking at it, while at the same time ridiculing it.

This flag alone reminded us of the treachery done by my own people to quench their greed, to quench their greed to control the people, to protect their newly found power against those who seek to replace them. This flag reminded us of the horrors that we experienced during the Three World Wars.

The first one began due to a single man's death. The second one began due to a man's greed for expansion, and the third one began because a man wanted to regain their homeland's former territories.

It was the flag of my people. The people who were enslaved three times, bombed three times, and culled like pigs for three generations. Whoa now...Almost let out the other part of myself there. I gotta slow down with my thoughts, wouldn't want... _them_ to pop up suddenly in my head.

But in honesty...who was it who said those words to me? His name slipped my mind but that phrase alone was painted in my head like a mantra. _A country without a flag is nothing but an island without any governance. A mere land that is of nothing, a flag is what makes an island like ours distinct and without it we are just islanders in a state of_ _anarchy_.

Who was it? What was his name? I can remember his face that sends...that brings back the nationalism inside be spark out. I can remember his white hair, moreno skin and long nose. He had this caucasian look on his face, a very distinct facial figure but somehow you can see in his eyes how patriotic he was to his country. The man was tall and always seen wearing a striped ocean blue suit. He was surrounded by operators every time he would show his face in public.

But what was his name? I wonder, it was like it was stuck on my tongue but my mind refuses to allow that name to slip out of my mouth.

"Was it Greorio...? No that's not it." I said to myself in dismissal.

With a deep sigh I closed my eyes and shook my head. Rummaging my head for that man's name is just gonna give a nasty headache and I do not want to waste my day-off thinking about an unknown man's name that's probably dead by now. Be it eaten by the abyssals or killed in a natural way.

"He was pretty old by the time I was done with officer's school..."

I gave myself a deep inhale, filling my lungs with air that was mixed with the mall's cold and the perfume of many passer-by. When I opened my eyes and turn away from the dome and faced the gaming center just behind me. The crowd that previously packed the gaming center has already dispersed.

The bottled feelings were still boiling inside me. I just wanna get rid of it, cursing about it wouldn't do me any good. I need to let it out in someway that does not include me yelling in English to a random person.

I found myself staring at a group of boys talking with their friends that just recently finished playing a shooting game called House of the Dead 2. Ah, that brings back memories. When I was still in high school I would find myself always visit a nearby arcade store and play that game until evening, but I still couldn't defeat that annoying fifth boss till I ended college. I am starting to think I am a retard for not defeating that fucking boss.

"How about I take a shot…?" I said with to myself.

I approached this exchange counter and asked the guy behind the counter to exchange my 500 yen for some tokens. The guy gave me 50 tokens and a receipt saying that I could win a car if I beat a certain game called fish net. A bait huh? But I wouldn't fall for it.

The last guy playing House of the Dead 2 finally finished on the fourth level in which he fought against an annoying boss equipped with a large chainsaw.

I used up around four tokens which was the minimum requirement to play the game and took the blue plastic pistol from its carriage. I'm was pretty sure that I'm rusty at this so I tried warming up by doing the old mechanics that made me proficient with this game. First was the off-screen fire which auto reloads my pistol faster than pulling the top cover of the plastic gun. Second was accuracy, I've known this for a while and I will share it to you as well. The plastic pistol has an infrared laser located under the barrel. This infrared laser is the reason why I am able to damage the zombies on the screen. But this only meant that the iron sight on this plastic pistol is now practically useless since I cannot make any adjustments. So to compensate for this I need to actually tilt the pistol 15 degrees to the left, like a mobster holding a gun.

"Alright, warm up's done. Here we go."

I pulled the trigger of the pistol on the word Start and the introduction sequence started. Then flashbacks about the first game are shown, about how the outcomes of that said game accumulated to the plot for the second game.

Then finally I was on the first level.

"Time to save some civilians"

~o~

"Goddamit!" I shouted at the screen.

I cursed and gritted my teeth as I succumbed in despair after my 8th failed attempt to eliminate the fifth boss, The Magician. This motherfucker sure does make me piss off after doing that stupid move in succeeding order.

After much cursing inside my head, I finally accepted the fact that this is where I will end my stress inducing journey and I must return to the island or the the old apartment building that I rented back in Yokosuka before we were forcibly deported on that island base.

As I placed the blue pistol back to its carriage a woman who was black-haired, greenish-gray eyed, beauty came to my side and inserted a token inside the box. She then turned her attention towards me and furrowed.

"Are you done? Please move aside." She said in English.

The woman then rotated her shoulders in quick succession before readying herself for the first boss. And with a click of her tongue she raised the red plastic pistol placed on its carriage and fired at the zombies on the scene.

I stood behind her, watching her cull her way though the levels without being damaged once. She even managed to save the civilians that were scattered throughout the levels. She was fairly accurate with her shots too, but she had this bad habit of clicking her tongue whenever she looses momentum. Eventually she reached the fourth boss, the boss that was around twelve feet tall and had a chainsaw as a primary weapon. Unfortunately for her, she did not succeed on defeating it. Letting out a sigh the woman turned her gaze towards me. Seriously if you're going to act cool in front of me at least defeat that boss

"Are you just gonna sulk there? Help me defeat the boss…." She said in English.

Are you ordering me woman? True you're taller than me but that doesn't mean you can just rudely…ehem, I need to think about this with a different mindset.

With a smile I pulled out my last 40 point token from my pocket and inserted it inside the coin slot. I pulled the blue plastic pistol from its carriage and waited for the random stranger to ready herself. With a nod she fired on the Retry word and our battle with the fourth boss commences.

Despite being a dead-eye she was lacking in the observation department. The fourth boss had a tricky weak spot which is on the leg and shoulder.

"Hit the right thigh and the lower leg on the left. You can shot the shoulder as well because that's the boss' weak spot!" I said politely.

"I can see that no need to lecture me!" She yelled.

I could feel the hairs on my body standing up in fury. Well this is the first time I've ever felt infuriated with a woman before…not that it matters just shoot the weak spot already!

The magician is doing this annoying side step motion yet again. The two of us are trying to shoot the weak spot but we are also getting hit by that stupid quick attack he perform every three continuous side step.

"I'll shoot the orbs, you shot the weak spots." The woman said.

Zeroing on the target I focused myself on shooting the weak spot once more and by luck the magician was stuck from being able to perform the same quick attack. That's because whenever he would make a quick attack I could just focus firing on the weak spots all day and let the woman shoot the orbs.

"Last phase!" I said.

The magician rose up to the sky firing the orbs at us but I still focused on firing the weak spots while letting the woman deal with the orbs.

""Alright!"" The two of us unknowingly shouted when the the boss was finally defeated.

"Ehem, okay now that's done. The Emperor is now up next." I said to her.

The woman turned her direction towards me and nodded. Ah, I forgot something. This would be my first time defeating the magician and I haven't even fought with the last boss. Shit, how are we going to defeat it?!

We blasted our way through Goldman's Headquarters, defeating the four snakes along the way and arrived at the top floor where the Emperor is residing. Inside the silver containment dome the Emperor awakens and emerged out from its slumber.

"I am….I am…." The emperor spoke.

Alright I'm gonna skip it here…basically we were beaten to death by the emperor and wasted around 320 worth of tokens retrying over and over again. Letting out a deep sigh the woman rested her hand under her chin and stared at the coin slot.

Is she tired? Well when you think about it how long have we played the last level together? I watched the counter clicking loudly until our waiting time gets used up. Then I heard a coin clanking inside the coin slot realizing that the woman decided to do it again.

"Well we've come this far. We should at least defeat the last boss. The high-schoolers are watching you know? Let's show them how to defeat this guy." The woman said and smiled at me.

I turned my head and saw a group of high-schoolers crossing their arms in front of their chest. Were they waiting in line? I didn't even realize that this game is actually popular up until this day.

"Hurry up with your girlfriend. We still have to defeat the third boss." The guy in front with a blonde hair spoke in English.

Wow that was actually spoken in good English and not in standard Japanese Engrish. Anyway enough screwing around with the poor kid, I still have a boss to defeat.

Inserting my hand into my pocket once more I rummaged a bit until I felt something metallic, it was 40 point token. The last remaining token in my pockets. If we lose now well it looks like this woman is gonna have to defeat the boss on her own.

"That's your last token? Well this is also my last token so lets make this one count." She said waiting for me to pull the blue pistol from its carriage.

That phrase actually motivated me a bit to continue. Inserting my last 40 point token on the coin slot, I fired at the retry icon and fought the emperor once more. I was down to my last three health icon when the woman spoke beside me.

"Since we can shoot those orbs during his attack phase I noticed something peculiar." She said.

"And what's that?"

"See that red spot over there? That might be the weak spot."

I turned my attention to the red spot she was talking about which was located at the chest of the Emperor. I waited for my chance for the Emperor to close in and let the woman deal with orbs just like the previous fight.

With precise aim, I fired at the chest and the Emperor flaunted backward. It was at that moment that a smug appeared on my face unknowingly. We repeated this process until the Emperor decided to screw it and increased the distance between us. He rose up into the air and surrounds himself with silicon like orbs. We continued firing until his health meter was depleted and defeated the last boss.

On his last moments Emperor rose up into the air and exploded into a million pieces. A few moments later Goldman decided to show up after hiding behind the backdrop only to jump off from his headquarters ending the game.

Swiping her black hair to the side the woman let out another sigh before walking away from the screen. I inserted the blue pistol on the carriage and pulled the reward tickets that it spewed before chasing after her.

"Hey, don't you want to collect your spoils?" I asked her.

"I helped you halfway. That doesn't count I am not in a position to split the rewards with you. You managed yourself to reach the fourth level on your own. That itself deserves a reward." She said.

"Pftt"

The woman scorned, lowering both of her eyebrows and staring straight right on my brown eyes.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

Tearing off half of the said reward tickets I walked closer to her and gave her share of the reward.

"Come on, you helped me there so at least accept this as a form of thanks." I said to her with my warmest smile.

With a turning head she took the reward ticket and folded it crosswise. She then rotated and stashed them inside her pockets.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. Come let's go to the rewards counter and redeem the tickets that we earned." She said without turning an eye towards me.

What's with her I asked to myself and followed her towards the rewards counter. The same guy and the same expression only this time though he decided to have a chat.

"Hmm? Looks like you've earned a lot for today." He said with a smile.

"Yes, well this is just half of the total earned. Well I only helped halfway so of course I could only receive this much." The woman replied.

"Half? Then who's the original owner?" The guy asked with a furrow.

"That would be me?" I said from behind.

The young man noticed me and gave me a smile. He then took a paper from the counter and placed it on the glass table.

"Please pick which one of these guys you would want to receive." The young man said.

There are currently five things that could be exchanged for my reward tickets. One was a small brown teddy bear, another was a plane replica, the third one was small porcelain bowl, the fourth one was a blue checkered necktie and the last one was a five try repeat for the….BLOODY FISH NET COMPETITION!

None of them interests me, although the plane replica sure does look like a better choice but the porcelain bowl is also a good choice too. Hmmm, alright I'll pick the plane replica.

"I'll take this one." I pointed my index finger on the plane replica.

"Alright, how about you miss?" The young man turned his attention to the woman.

It took around ten seconds before the woman decided what to pick. With her index finger she pointed at the worst choice amongst them all.

"One Fish Net ticket retry coming right up." The man said cheerily.

I turned my head to the woman and gave her a puzzled look. She looked at with a scorn, her left eyebrow raised.

"What?" She asked.

"Seriously a fish net retry ticket? You could've picked the porcelain bowl or the brown teddy bear you know?" I said to her.

"Do you really think that a brown teddy bear is still applicable for a woman my age? Lastly, a porcelain bowl? What am I going to do with that?" She replied with an annoyed tone. She then turned her attention to the reward that I chose. "Really a plane replica? What are you a fifteen year old high-schooler?"

"Wha-What's wrong with a thirty year old like me wanting a plane replica?!" I rebuked

"It doesn't suit you. Picking the porcelain bowl is actually a pretty good choice for an old man like you." She said.

I could feel the bulges of my lips forming a forced smile trying to hide the fact that I was actually hurt by that sentence.

"Shut-it. What's with your selection anyway? What's with the fish net competition that actually made you interested?" I asked her.

The woman didn't answer my question and only stared at the back of the young man in front of us. Running out of topic to talk with her, I decided to wait for the young man to finish packing up the plane replica with a paper bag.

"Here's for you sir." He said.

I actually expected a single paper to be given to her but what the young man gave was a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

"And here is for you missy. Now if you don't mind follow me to the shooting range." The young man said.

With a puzzled look I watched the woman follow the young man to a door leading to the so called _shooting range_. That word actually peaked my interest suddenly and unknowingly I followed them inside.

What filled my vision was a wide room with surrounded with pure blue water. Waves around a feet in height could be seen being pushed to the sides of the wall made of wooden blocks. We were situated above the waves, standing on a concrete floor with a glass wall that was around stomach height located at the edge. The room was actually big, like I could see the farthest target being the 150 meter mark.

"Welcome to the shooting range. Now if you don't mind please go to the shooting line with your bow and quiver equipped." The young man said on a microphone.

Standing on the shooting line was the woman that I recently met but with a bow and arrow on her hand. She had her black hair tied up like a pony tail and her long sleeves folded right above her elbows.

"Ah, excuse me but could you fill me in with the details?" The woman asked.

"Absolutely, the competition is actually simple. Your objective is to hit the fishes that randomly jump out of the water on an unknown interval. You have thirty seconds to do this, every fish accurately hit will yield you a single point. The highest point currently is 60 points. Beating the high score will also yield you an additional reward. Does help help you understand the mechanics?" The young man politely spoke.

The woman only nodded and took an arrow from her quiver and placed it on the bow. The young man nodded and started counting down, then after the count down "Firing!" He shouted.

The woman retracted the string and fired away missing the first fish she saw. With succeeding motion she took another arrow and fired again hitting a fish on the far side of the shooting range. Then fired again hitting her second fish on the 20 meter mark with her third arrow. The fourth one missed then another, then another. She actually miss around seven fishes and before hitting her fifth fish. When the last ten seconds came she was already on her seventh fish eliminated and around 20 arrows missed their targets.

"Five-Four-Three-Two-One-Zero!" The young man pressed the stop button and the wooden fishes stopped jumping out of the water.

The woman in front of me let out a disappointing sigh before removing the quiver from her back and placing it on a cabinet near the shooting line where the young man is standing with the controls.

"Well that was disappointing." I said to her.

I actually felt a cold sting coming from my spine when I saw her glare at me after I said that sentence. She stopped in front of me and then turned her attention to the score board above the stage.

"Seven points and 20 arrows used…..Disappointing." She muttered.

"If you want to try again you can still try. You just used up one of your five retries so don't lose hope!" The young man cheered beside us.

The woman succumbed in silence and raised an eyebrow when she saw a black wooden muneate placed right above the cabinet she placed her bow and quiver on.

"Figures…." She muttered before taking the _muneate_ from the cabinet and wearing them. She then took the bow and quiver from the cabinet. The weird thing was, the woman placed her quiver on her hips and was slanted a bit to the side.

"Well that looks uncomfortable." I said to myself.

Giving a thumbs up to the young man behind the controls her second try on the Fish Net competition commences with a loud explosion erupting inside the shooting range after she fired her first arrow, destroying the wooden fish plank into a million pieces.

I could feel my mouth dropping wide in amazement. I think I could fit a porcelain bowl inside it, seriously how the hell did you decimate that wooden fish?!

"Too strong—" Muttered after she fired her first arrow.

"Too slow—" She fired her second arrow scoring a bullseye on the poor fish plank but this time it didn't explode into nothingness.

One after another, with swift movements she zeroed in on her targets hitting them at the head without a single arrow missed. This continued on for the remainder of the thirty second mark, I even lost count on how many points she is actually earning. I could only stand there in awe as she emptied her quiver filled with arrows. She the ran back to the cabinets to refill them.

When the thirty minute mark ended not a single fish jumped out from the water. Literally the water in front of me is littered with wooden fishes that had arrows sticking on them. It was like a sea full of dead fishes but this particular scene is a sea full of wooden fishes which is less bloody.

Removing the scrunchy that tied her black hair she raised her head towards the score board above the stage. With a smug expression on her face she pointed her index finger above. I followed her index finger and saw the score currently illuminated by red light on the score board.

"220 points. Not bad am I right?" She said mockingly.

I tried making a light laugh to shrug it off….to swallow the words that I said to her a while ago but it seems that I failed miserably and could only keep my mouth open until she placed a hand under my chin to gently close it off.

"Stop giving me that exaggerated expression already. Anyway, young man it seems I have bypass the highest score so I will be expecting a good reward for this one." She said with both of her eyes closed and the warmest smile she could make.

"Of-Of course, certainly please wait a moment I'll go check the reward system."The young man replied before running out of the shooting range.

~o~

"Hahahaha, if only you could see the face you were making! That was priceless!" The woman yelled before emptying her bottle of beer.

After her great display of archery skills back at the shooting range, this woman decided to give me half of the money she won from that competition which was 20,000 yen and a discount ticket of a certain pub right outside the shopping mall. The pub was actually famous not gonna lie due to the fact that they sell the best beer in Hiroshima. One bottle of beer cost around 5000 yen with the discount ticket a bottle only costs around 200 yen which is a huge discount.

"Are you perhaps a professional athlete competing with other archers in the past? Maybe you were taught at a young age?" I asked her staring at the bottle that she just quickly emptied.

"Ha? No-no I'm no athlete and I was not taught at a young age. It was self taught that's all really. Ah! Right! I don't know your name! How come I'm giving you half of my earnings without even knowing your name!? You are a stranger! A stranger!" She shouted at me with beer foam above her lips.

When you think about it, I never had the chance to introduce myself to her. That's funny.

I gave my bottle a glance and realized it was empty. Using my right hand I extended it towards the center where a bucket packed with beer bottles could be seen. They were submerged in cold water, you wouldn't want to drink a lukewarm beer.

"Name? My name is Ermest Fustaku and please don't call me Fuck-san or something." I said to her politely.

"HA?! Fuck is your name? Eh?! Well isn't that a peculiar name! Your parents must've regretted making you since they gave that peculiar name." She replied with her voice slipping in and out.

Please don't say that. My father and mother actually love me deeply and decided to gave me an honorable name which is Ermest which also translates into my own ethnic language as the one we loved the most. Hearing you say that actually hurts me deep inside my heart….huhuhu.

"How rude of you woman! What's your name anyway?" I asked as softly as I could.

"Name? Hmm? Let's see….a name that starts with Z…..Hmm, ah that's right my name is Zyunko! Z-Y-U-N-K-O in English alphabet, Zyunko!" She replied with a smile on her face.

Zyunko huh? So you pronounce the Zyun part as Zuin and the Ko part as Kou….Hmm, it's not actually hard to pronounce unlike most Japanese names I know.

"By the way is that your given name or your family name. I don't want to be chummy with you or anything by accidentally calling you with your given name." I said to her feeling a bit whimsical.

"Hm? Ah yes that is my given name. By last name are you talking about surnames? Well unfortunately I don't have a surname so you gonna have to call me by my given name." She replied, whilst emptying her eight beer bottle.

A Japanese citizen that doesn't have a surname? That's strange, is she a stow away or a runaway? Either way there is nothing I could do about it and forcing her to say her last name is just gonna make me look too invasive.

"You know it actually made me curious about the reason why you don't have a surname. Is it alright for me to ask why?" I asked her as I took a sip with my can. I guess I could ask out of curiosity.

The woman slams her head on the wooden table immediately, like a book that fell from the book shelf.

"I was born without a surname….for a while. I actually thought that the name given to me was my surname at first but it turns out that it was actually my first name. Even my sister shares the same situation as I am." She said while her burrowed on the wooden table

"So you have an onee-san or an imouto-chan?" I asked.

"My, aren't you invasive." She said with a low tone.

Shit.

"I have an older sister. She had this strong vibe around her but she's actually quite a klutz. Like, she can fall over in just about the stupidest random things. Be it a small pebble on the road or a stupid branch that _coincidentally_ was bent in a weird manner—ah! There was this one time where we participated on a curry contest and I accidentally stripped her when I tried removing the stain on her skirt, her beet red expression was priceless my heart skipped a bit there!" She said waving her hand around the air.

A-am I allowed to be hearing this? Or is this supposed to be a confidential information that you and only you or your older sister knew about?!

"Y-you must've loved your older sister don't you." I said to her feeling a bit guilty for asking.

Zyunko raised her head and took another beer bottle from the bucket. She open this by using the bottle opener that was placed near the bucket. She closed her greenish-gray eyes and drank the beer. As I watched her I saw this downcast look for a moment when she turned her head to the window beside us. Somehow the atmosphere became heavy, like that moment where you were having a talk with your bedridden mother. I followed the direction of her gaze and saw a crowd of civilians moving in and out of the shopping mall. It was already evening when I realized it.

"She is the only one I have in this world. Of course I love her. So much that I am willing to sacrifice my life for her." She replied softly. "Say, do you have a family too? Do you have someone in your life in which you are will to give it your all?" She asked placing a arm underneath her chin while her head was resting on the glass window.

Is it just me or have I heard this conversation before?

"I have…I have a mother, a father, a brother and a little sister. Together we make up the small Fustaku family living on the mountains of Cebu City. They are the only ones that kept be going in these following years." I said to her evading her gaze.

"Ehh, despite your foreign looks you actually live on the mountains? To me you actually look like a city boy rather than a farmer's son." She said to me with a sarcastic tone.

"Oh shut up, I'm not a farmer's son. We just happen to live in the mountains that's all. My father actually works on a mining company just three kilometers north, deep into the opposite jungle of my country." I said to her with my hands flipping the the bottle opener.

"No wonder…Anyway I've been wondering...What do you do for a living, Fuck-san? Don't tell me you're some gigolo roaming around Japan in search for grand ecstasy? Also how did you get here in the first place?" She said with a laugh.

Seriously what kind of a man do you seen in me with those two greenish-gray eyes of yours?! And it looks like I will be called Fuck-san by this woman too….figures.

"I told you not to call me with that godforsaken nickname." I let out a sigh, "I work for a shipping company in Yokosuka. I ship goods from Russia to this country." I said to her, trying my best to keep a serious look.

Zyunko scuffed and slammed her hand on the table. She was laughing loudly, she tried covering her mouth with her left hand but the muffles of her laughs were still audible. She then let out a couple of deep sighs before saying, "Sorry-sorry. That was a good laugh."

"You sarcastic bastard." I said to her with a cold look.

"No-no, I was not being sarcastic or anything! It's just that I can tell when a person lies or not!" She explained flaying her arms in from of me.

Zyunko closed one of her eyes and pressed both of her hands in front of her, "Sorry~" She softly says. Be it the alcohol or something...I just hope she behaves this way because of that.

"How do you know am lying anyway?" God this is gonna be annoying if she finds out.

Zyunko placed one of her hands underneath her lips look at me with half-closed eyes. She then hummed quietly as she look at me from top to my stomach.

"Well for starters...I just know." She explained.

"Here I am actually considering that you have a proper explanation." I said to her with a disappointment.

"Oh come on! I'm telling the truth!" She urged.

"Heh, then how do I know that you are telling the truth." I rebuked.

I gave her a suspicious look and a half smile. Zyunko averted my gaze. I stared at her with my smile slowly dissipating. Is she hiding something from me...? She had this look on her face.

"Seriously, don't give me that look. I was just messing around!" I vigorously announced while raising my bottle towards her.

Zyunko shook her head and raised her bottle towards mine. When it collided it uttered a sharp cling, we pulled our bottles back and drank the contents.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"Excused me?" I asked placing the empty bottle aside.

"What do you think I do for a living?" She asked once more, staring at the beer bottle that had its contents half-empty.

I stared at her in confusion. What does she do in a living? I asked myself that question.

"Don't get me wrong. You are a an attractive woman-"

"Are you hitting on me?" She immediately interjected.

"Let me finish! Ehem. I think you do modeling work seeing your...appearance as is...I conclude that you do modeling work." I explained.

Zyunko softly chuckled before emptying her bottle of beer. She then waved her hand towards the nearby waiter and asked for a bowl of salted peanuts. She then turned her gaze towards me and asked, "Yours?"

I waved my hand at her before saying, "Nah, am good."

The pub waiter left and headed straight towards the kitchen. There was this moment of silence between me and her, I must've said my answer in an awful manner. There could've been a better answer than what I said. Like, she could've worked in a bank or something but modeling work? God you're killing me Fustaku!

"Unfortunately I don't do modeling work. Sorry to shoot down your hopes on me." Zyunko softly says her eyes closed and her lips forming a casual smile.

"It was just a random guess please don't think of it-"

"It's fine, Ermest-san." She softly laughs, calling me by my given name, "What's wrong? Do you perhaps prefer to be called Fuck-san instead?" She asked.

"Please don't. I've had bad moments with that godforsaken nickname." I muttered cursing at the men who gave me that nickname, "So anyway since you don't do modeling work. What do you do for a living?" I asked.

Zyunko was facing the window when she coldly says, "I kill abyssals for a living." I could feel chills down my spine when I heard those words. I knew right there that she was not lying. She had sad yet cold eyes, her melancholic expression...

"I dunno what to say really." I said to her turning my gaze towards the wooden beer barrel placed on the counter.

"Oh please don't feel pity on me. Although it's not a high paying job-It's honest work." She said, turning her attention towards me.

I stared back at her, I couldn't take off my eyes off her. Zyunko had a dark long hair that reaches her back, she tied it into a pony tail and her side bangs almost covering her left eye. She had a very alluring vibe around her that was further complemented by her round face. You could...you could just stare at her all day and not get bored at it. Which is kinda sad at the same time, if you think about her occupation.

"Never expected for a lady like you to be in the armed forces. Everyone must do its part in this fight right?" I said to her.

Zyunko shook her head and leaned closer. The waiter has arrived and with him is a bowl of salted peanuts, I could tell that they were spicy by the stench that it was emitting.

"Well you could say that." She says while placing peanuts in her mouth, "In my part, well, let's just say-what I'm doing now is an obligation...a second chance to actually do something..."

I watched her picked the peanuts off the bowl and inserted them in her mouth. She suddenly coughed and immediately reached for her bottle of beer. With long gulp she slapped her stomach, letting out a laugh on what just happened. I could only chuckle as I watched her squirm for the bottle.

Japanese people viewed honor more seriously than most cultures that I know. For them honor is like an...obligation, that's what I observed while living in this country of course. At times, for them honor is more important than one's own life. They are willing to take their own life just to retain their honor, especially soldiers. And when they are dishonored in someway or jailed they will do anything just to regain their honor. It gets extreme too once you picture out a prisoner who was accused of murder be told to commit seppuku to regain his honor.

Zyunko said something about doing it as a _second chance,_ and for her to be speaking about it in a grievous manner...In worst case scenario, its either Zyunko committed something bad in the past or she messed up leading to her eventual forced enlistment.

Forced enlistment. That's what the penal soldiers here call it, and they say its more honorable than rotting in jail or working in forced labor.

"No wonder you are such a heavy drinker." I said to her with a chuckle.

"We'll for a man like you who has eyes that's seen the afterlife and an attitude that does not suite his age, those words actually cheer me up a little." She added softly laughing on my remark.

Eventually the alcohol managed to affect the two of us. With over twenty bottles emptied we had our tolerance tested. I was not expecting her to last that many bottles and neither did I expect myself to last that long too.

When Zyunko finally stood up from her chair and vomited on the table both of us knew that we had to part ways. I too had my own _obligations_ to attend to and Zyunko too must've as well, after all she is a soldier just like me.

As I helped her walk towards the exit she raised her red beet head towards me and asked with a fleeting tone, "Where do you go home anyway?" She asked, "Are you going back straight to the naval base?"

Naval Base...? Did I heard that right? She was speaking in Japanese already and I couldn't make out the words that were coming out of her mouth. When we paid our bill and went outside I hailed a taxi for her and asked her where she lived.

"Oh me? I have an apartment not far from here! Say mister..." She said in Japanese.

The taxi driver and her were talking then it got into a debate with me only picking up some words that I knew. Taxi driver-san turned his attention towards me with eyes furrowed.

"Are you her guardian?" He asked in Japanese.

I shook my head and told him I couldn't understand him. The taxi driver sighed and asked in English instead, "Are you her guardian?" I shook my head once more and replied, "Friend. I will just drop her off to her so called apartment and be on my way."

The taxi driver gave me a suspicious look before turning his attention towards Zyunko who was now swaying side to side.

"Fine, come in. I'll drop you guys to your destination." He said in English.

I thanked him in Japanese and helped Zyunko sit at the back. It was not long after when she suddenly vomited inside the cab, and I had to pay the extra fee and clean her shit up.

~o~

When we arrived at the destination I realized it was not an apartment building. Rather it was a motel, no wonder the taxi driver was giving me the cold stares. He was either worried about her or worried that he helped a random stranger do horrible things. He was quick to depart too when I cleaned Zyunko's vomit and payed the fee.

"Come follow me~" Zyunko tugged me inside the building.

We walked pass the teller and headed straight to the elevator. Zyunko vomited once more while we were going up and I had no extra towel with me so I just left the vomit as is on the elevator.

"Room...244..." Zyunko muttered.

"What?" Shaking her with both of my hands.

"Stop shaking~ My room is 244 keys in right pocket." She elaborated.

I let out a sigh, inserted my right hand in her pocket and retrieved her key. Zyunko was heavy, not that I'm saying she's fat or anything but rather I'm talking based on facts. She's tall almost as tall as a female volleyball athlete and with a guy as short as me I had trouble helping her, luckily for us her room was near the elevator.

"Please don't vomit now..."

And she did once more this time on my clothes.

Cursing I headed straight to her room and dropped her on the bed. After that I removed my long sleeves and headed to the bathroom. The lights were not turning on which was pissing me off.

Using the light of my phone, I then placed it on top of a shelf and let the light illuminate me. I was fortunate that there was water, if there weren't I could've broke the mirror in front of the sink in irritation.

"I'm terribly sorry, Fuck-san!" Zyunko yelled from her bed.

"No it's okay. I've already got the stain off my body. You should get some rest for now." I yelled back.

Using the towel that was hanged near the door I wiped the water off my chest and walked back towards Zyunko's room. I knocked on the door and waited for a reply but she didn't answer. Out of concern I opened the door while saying, "I'm coming in okay?"

Zyunko was sitting on her bed with her her black jacket removed and her purple bra exposed.

"Hmmm? Where have you been?" She asked annoyingly in English.

I immediately closed my eyes and turned my head to the side. Before I could place my hand on the door, Zyunko called my name telling me to face her.

"I had to wash my chest since you vomited all over me. Would you please cover yourself with something?" I said to her while averting my gaze away from her bare body.

"Ah, unfortunately I do not have anything to cover them since my jacket smelled like a sewer so I had to take them off. Not to mention that my hair smells bad." She replied with both of her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side.

I still had my wet towel on my hand that I used to wipe my chest. Using that I approached Zyunko and placed the wet towel above her head.

"Hold still I'll dry your hair off. After this go take a quick shower and wear fresh sets of clothes." I said to her.

Zyunko nodded with both of her eyes closed. "But I don't have other clothes other than my jacket, pants, and shirt." When she opened them she stared at me before turning her head around the room.

"Why is it so dark?" She asked.

"Well I forgot to turn on the lights when I came here. Although I can still see you due to the lights outside the building." I explained to her., "Are you this hopeless when you are drunk-?"

"But that isn't—" She tried rebuking but I cut her off when I realized that the white wet towel was covered in black color.

I stared at it for a while. It was indeed hair dye, but for it to be coming off it must've been a cheap hair dye that could be used washed off easily.

"You dyed your hair black?" I asked her.

Zyunko nodded and turned her eyes away from me, she was sulking when I asked her with this question.

It took me around an hour to fully remove her black dye with the wet towel. Although the white towel now looks like a damped cloth at least I could see what her real hair color looks like.

"Say, you actually look good with your own natural hair color." I said to her as a complement.

"Hmph! You can't talk me around with it. My sister has an amazing natural hair color than mine. Also how can you say that I look good with my hair color when you can barely see me?" She asked, her tone almost whispering.

Her hair color actually looked the same as her eyes upon closer inspection, they were grayish-green than her eyes but they still look the same if you take a quick glance. With a sigh I held her hair with my dominant hand and asked with a slightly strict tone.

"Seriously why are you so obsessed with your older sister hair when you are on even grounds? Your hair is silky and long you should be proud of yourself." I said to her.

Zyunko grabbed my hand shoved it to the side. She refused to look at me in the eye.

"Hmph!"

"You know I actually know someone who has the same color as your hair." I said to her.

Although your voice and attitude are completely different you still have a striking resemblance to her.

"Is-is-is that so?" She said with a stutter.

"Yeah, I only met her once though when she saw me interacting with her older sister who accidentally hit me on the forehead with an arrow. Luckily that arrow did not have a metallic tip or else I would've died on that moment." I said to her with a muffled voice.

"Shou—she actually did that to you?! How-how surprising."

I faintly see her laying her back into the bed. I could hear her soft breath in the lightly lit room.

"Yeah, unfortunately her older sister was a bit of a siscon than I imagine. Always worrying about her sister all day…to the point that she would hurt herself rather than not worrying about her little sister." I continued.

I remembered my conversation with Shoukaku a few days back. It was during the time when the platoon haven't been formed yet and I was still the commanding officer of Una Company. Recalling about it now, I actually start to wonder what Shoukaku is doing right now.

I sat on the bed and faced the window that was overlooking the street. There were still people walking around the streets this late in the evening.

"Hehehehehe…hahahaha." Zyunko laughed softly and slapped my bare back so hard I could feel my spine cracking. "Hearing you say siscon was really funny...hahahaha."

"Would you please not slap my back—"

"Say" Zyunko interrupted me halfway.

Still feeling a bit dizzy I turned my head towards the side and saw her turned towards me. I could only see her silhouette, I could only see the curves of her body but never her face. With a coarse and whispering like voice I didn't expect what came after it.

In close proximity that I could feel her warmth, she spoke to me—

"Say, can you kiss me?" She asked in English.

She moved closer until our foreheads were pressing, her chest pressed against mine. I could just feel the fabric of her bra brushed against my upper body. Slowly, without answering her question I moved closer.

"My mouth still smells like vomit you know?" She said softly when my nose touched her left cheeks.

"Just once" I replied.

With my left hand resting on her shoulder I pressed my cheeks on to hers and separated immediately. With warm hands I started to move away when Zyunko's hand rested on left shoulder.

"Again" She said.

I followed her and gave her another kiss this time an intimate one, unable to hold back I accidentally pushed her to the bed with my body on top of hers.

"Once more" She spoke after I separated from her.

Unable to restrain myself I held her other hand with mine, pulling her closer to the point that her upper body was pressed against mine. She pulled my shoulder to the side, she rolled upward, sitting on my stomach. She leaned closer this time pressing her hand on my hips and her other hand caressing my hair.

She was warm, warmer than the bed. Her hands were soft, slender, and they were in the same length as mine. I pulled her closer giving another kiss. She held my cheeks with both of her hands before separating and letting out a ecstatic breath.

"I am sorry." She said.

"What for?" I asked.

"For what's going to happen next." She spoke with a smile on her face.

Shaking my head, I pulled her closer. I felt her body warming up, her hands touching me and her tongue reaching in. There was no sign of us stopping. We turned, gasp, muffled our moans, and kissed.

With her on top of me she moved her hips slightly, I could feel it. She looked at me, waiting for me to move it and when I moved slightly she let out a muffled moan.

"Just for this night—" I said to her in a whisper.

~o~

I was suddenly disturbed from my deep slumber. I opened my eyes slowly as I heard a loud clanking noise near my feet. Slowly with a nauseated head I raised my body on an upright position and rubbed the back of my head.

It was cold, very cold, the atmosphere that is. I removed the blankets that were covering my lower body and discovered that I did not have any clothes. I usually sleep without a shirt on so it was not surprising when I realize that my upper body felt cold what surprised me was the lack of clothing of my lower body.

With sloppy motions I took my underwear that was hanging on the outer edge of the brown closet and then wore my trousers. After that I inserted my old aging feet on my old Markana-Light-leather boots that was with me for over eleven years.

"Dammit, my eyesight is getting dull." I rubbed my eye sockets and walked towards the window.

I slowly pushed the curtains to the side and the sunlight illuminated the room. I squinted my eyes from the light before placing a hand above my eyebrows and peered outside.

When I turn around I saw a tall bulging thing that was covered by a set of green blankets. It came to my attention that a slender hand was sticking out of the green blanket. With slow yet swift movements I removed the green blanket and immediately regretted it.

"Hnnggg~" I heard a groaning voice.

Wearing nothing on her body, she raised her upper body and sat upright on the bed while rubbing the back of her neck. She then looked at me with half-closed eyes, I could faintly see eye bags hanging underneath her eyes.

"Ah, fuck-san. Looks like you woke up first. It looks like we had a severe case of hangover yesterday and found ourselves in this baffling situation." She said with a calm tone.

I saw her greenish-gray eyes dilated a bit with her left brow slight raised. She then spoke once more this time with a tired tone, she then covered her bare chest with the green blanket that covered her lower body.

"I just hope my admiral won't find out about this." She said as her greenish-gray hair fluttered to the side.

"What?"

 **Chapter End**


	24. Debts

Always pay your **Debts** early or it might bite you in the ass later

* * *

 **Updated 03-28-2019**

* * *

 **February 8, 2051**

 **Admiral Goto's Room**

Admiral Arimato Goto was suddenly awakened by his fourth wife, Yura. She was wearing her usual shipgirl attire and it looks like she's about to disembark on a transport escort sortie.

Yura had her hand placed on Arimato's forehead. She had a simple smile on her face and a lethargic look indicating that she didn't get enough rest.

"Something wrong?" Arimato asked.

"No, not really." Yura casually answered.

She then leaned closer and kissed Arimato's forehead. After that she separated herself and stood up from the bed that she was sitting on.

Arimato was bewildered at Yura's behavior. With a light squint with his eyes, Arimato raised his body to an upright position.

"I'll be going now. I advise you to stop spending too much time with Ooyodo because the others might do something _daring_ if you are not careful." Yura turns around and gave Arimato a light giggle, after that she approached the door and exited with almost no sound ever uttered.

Slowly, Arimato glanced to his right and saw Ooyodo sleeping peacefully with her clothes sprawled on top of the blankets that kept them warm.

"When did she get here?" Were the first thoughts Arimato formulated inside his head.

He let out a sigh knowing that something must've happened since his sleeping clothes were nowhere to be seen on his body.

After letting out a second sigh, Arimato leaned downward and retrieved his sleeping pants that were placed on the floor near his side of the bed. He then wore the pants and stood up from his bed. He tried his best not to make unnecessary movements that might awaken Ooyodo.

He made sure that Ooyodo was not disturbed. She wasn't, so he turned his attention towards the laptop placed on top of his table. A green blinking light could be seen indicating that an important email has been received.

He booted the laptop and checked what the contents. It was just a request message from his old friend, Engineer Hanz Holland.

Knowing Holland for a long time now, he decided to call him via video call. The call was received almost immediately and a video feed showing the face of the man was revealed.

"Hmm? You called earlier than expected." Holland said with a solemn tone.

"Cut to the chase old man. What do you want?" Arimato asked.

"I am not that old dammit! You and I are in the same age. Despite being a 31 year old, I am entering my late adulthood pretty early. You on the other hand!" Holland angrily says.

"Shut up. Look, just proceed to the main topic already." Arimato urged showing no pity to the man that entered his late adulthood early.

Holland shook his head twice after hearing Arimato's irritated sentence. "You never change do you? Anyway, I have something to show you."

The video showing the engineer's face shook. After a few seconds, Arimato's screen was engulfed by the thing that Holland was talking about.

"What in a world is that?" Arimato asked in amazement.

"Behold my latest creation. The VT-series Multipurpose Titan, inspired from an old Russian made BT-series Frontline Titan." Holland boastfully announced.

The titan was twenty-five feet long and a large armament could be seen placed on its side. Holland was standing beside this titan but he only looked like a rat standing beside an adult cat.

"Your beloved superiors at JAD requested for a multipurpose titan that is capable of performing everything that a tank is supposed to be used for, albeit a bit bitter."

Arimato couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that his country actually requested something that's expensive than a main battle tank. He couldn't believe that they actually requested Holland of all people to make the design. He couldn't believe that they actually denied his request for a new dormitory facility because all the funding were sent to Holland and his VT-series titan.

"Those JAD bastards..." Arimato grunted.

"Well I've already sent a report to the JAD that I've finished their titan prototype. I still haven't revealed any footage of it being finished however. Think about it, since you are my dearest friend, I've shown you something that you didn't even know was being made outside of Japan." Holland added.

"So? What now? Are you just gonna boast about it in front of me?" Arimato asked.

"I have a simple proposal for you that might peak your interest." Holland declared with a smug look on his face.

Knowing Holland, Arimato knew that every negotiations coming from Holland are either too risky or just plain old stupid.

"I'm going to give you a more refined version of the prototype blueprint. You will receive this blueprint together with the blueprint copy for the JAD. That is if they accepted my report and requested for the titan to be delivered there in Japan. But—"

"But?"

"I don't trust soldiers sent by the government. I don't want those unitologist spies stealing my blueprint via e-mail or during delivery. So all I'm asking is for you to send your most trusted soldiers here in Austria and deliver these blueprints to their respective receivers."

Arimato was irritated by that sentence alone. He shook his head twice then gave the smiling Holland a murderous glare.

"You are telling me to risk the lives of my men just to retrieve a blueprint and bring home a prototype? Are you mad? I'm coming there myself if ever the JAD were to approve your report."

"Now-now, wouldn't that mean that you are fine leaving your shipgirls behind? Fully exposed to the ISP to do their thing?" Holland's words pierced through Arimato's angered expression.

 _True_ , Arimato thought. If I leave Japan then the Imperial Secret Police will surely infiltrate the Naval Base and plunder the classified documents that he has hidden in his office. With his fourth wife out in a transport sortie, there's no one to protect the documents that only he and the Yura knew.

"I cannot risk it. Also, why are you asking me to deliver your _precious_ blueprints?" Arimato softly swore.

"I trust you, that is all the answer you need right. Also, I already notified the JAD that I only acknowledge you as the man that I trust to deliver the blueprints. That means if they refuse my terms concerning the delivery of the blueprints as well as the titan prototype then—you already know what'll happen next right? So, what's your answer to my proposal?"

Arimato placed both of his hands on top of the table. He then leaned forward placing his forehead on top of the hands that were placed above the table. He gave this negotiation into deep consideration.

He knew that he cannot refuse an order especially from the JAD since that JAD is under the direct control of the Emperor. And if the Emperor acknowledges Holland's terms then Arimato will be forced to send soldiers to Europe just to retrieve the prototype and the blueprints.

"You really like to torment me this way don't you?" Arimato asked as he raised his head towards Holland.

"Hey, I'm just requesting a reasonable thing here. You still owe me big time you know?" Holland finally placed the last nail on the coffin.

Arimato had nothing to rebuke on that one. With a cold sigh, Arimato glanced at the papers near his laptop. It was a document regarding the _interviews_ that Katsuragi did before the EDP was formed.

"Fine, I'll send a small platoon to oversee the delivery."

"Oh, once they arrive in Austria they'll be under my jurisdiction alright?" Holland clarified.

"Fine. After this request I'll be cutting my ties with you Holland." Arimato says as he pressed the end call button of the video transmission.

But before the conversation was concluded, Holland said something but was cut short since Arimato expected the sentence to be another irritating question.

 _"Also be careful with a man named F—"_

* * *

 **On the First day _of_ _—_**

I was pretty sure that the woman I had spent my time with was a woman named Zyunko not a shipgirl named Zuikaku who had a boisterous attitude and doesn't know what _restraint_ means. She was still sitting upright on the bed, she had this puzzled look on her face when I suddenly jumped back on the window when I saw her groaning after I pulled the green sheets off of her.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something. Anyway, where's my underwear?" She asked.

If could remember correctly during our _intimate_ time together, I shoved her underwear inside that drawer over there. I moved towards it and hastily pulling the lower drawer discovering her underwear's whereabouts.

"They're here." I pointed my hand inside the lower drawer.

"Ah, please retrieve them for me. I still could not feel my legs...for unknown reasons." She said while trying to tie her hair into twin tails using a rubber band she found somewhere.

I took her underwear and placed it right next to her. I could see her chest presented in front of me as she tried finishing her twin tails. When she saw me walking away from her she immediately called me back.

"Ermest, could you please fasten my bra for me? I can't tie this particular hair for unknown reasons." She spoke as calmly as she could be.

I was not in the mood to start an argument so I just followed what she asked me to do and sat upright on the bed and took her bra. With both of her hands still moving I was unable to utilize the two bra garters.

"Could you stop moving your arms for a second so that I could fasten this?"

"I'll insert my arms later, for now just fasten it using the hooks." She replied.

Realizing that she wouldn't stop moving her arms, I did what she instructed me to do and fasten the hooks on her back. I somehow failed to cover her _not so_ flat chest, so I tried adjusting it.

"Even though you played with them last night, are you still not yet satisfied?" She asked with a joking tone.

"Who do you think is the one ordering me to fasten your bra? You are not in a position to complain. Here it's done." I said after adjusting her bra.

Zuikaku then inserted her arms through the gaps of the bra garter and adjusted her bra accordingly. I then gave her panties with my other hand and stood up from the bed.

"I am not actually complaining...Say, Ermest—"

"Hm? What's with you calling me with my given name?" I interrupted her.

Zuikaku paused for a second before raising her head towards me. With the green blanket still covering her legs she stood up and asked me with a puzzling question.

"With the recent intimate night we had yesterday. Does this make us lovers or something?"

I was like a cat that got its tongue pulled out by a rat, unable to speak and was stuck frozen.

"No. We should just forget about it-carry on with our lives, and act like nothing happened. I wouldn't want to just jump on the bat and call ourselves lovers after a single intimate night." I said to her honestly.

Zuikaku made a downcast look. She then squeezed the green blanket covering her lower body before she raised her head again this time with a stern look.

"I wouldn't mind, going out with you that is..." She said with a deadpan expression.

Truth be told, I was kinda shocked by that reply. I had the same shocked expression when a college student discovered that you actually passed the Engineering Licensure Exams without studying or maybe when you suddenly received a mail from a random hospital saying that your wife was impregnated with a random man...okay that might be not the right example but you get the idea. My thoughts were spinning all over the place, what is this shipgirl saying to me?! Why is a thirty year old vir-ehem, matured man like me getting flustered about something like this?!

"A-are you listening to the words you are saying?! Think about it!" I said.

"I am certain." She replied.

"Think deeper!" I retorted.

Zuikaku moved closer and closer, she had this taint sense of anger around her. I was on the retreat but she keeps shoving herself closer to me.

"Why? Is there something wrong with me? Do you already have a girlfriend or something?" She asked with a hand grabbing me by the arm.

"Zuikaku think about the consequences about this. Yesterday's interaction could just be buried to ourselves with no one knowing about it. We could just forget that it happened, there is no need for you to be doing this forcibly on to yourself." I tried to reason with her.

"But I don't want to." She said with a saddened tone. "I don't want to forget the things that happened yesterday. I don't want to just shove it off to the side like it's nothing. I am not an easygoing girl that could just shove a memory out of my head like it's nothing. Yesterday, I really did enjoy my time with you. You were not just person who plays around with women, you were not the type of guy that I saw talking with my sister with" She said with a cold tone.

WOMAN LISTEN TO THE WORDS YOU ARE SAYING! ARE YOU DRUGGED?! ARE YOU STILL DRUNK?! DID YOU LOSE TO A ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS COMPETITION AND THAT YOUR CONSEQUENCE FOR BEING THE LOSER IS TO CONFESS YOUR LOVE TO ME?!

Zuikaku leaned her head on my forehead and asked once more. "Will you go out with me? For both of our sakes?" Her warm breath hitting my cheeks.

Deep inside me someone is screaming _No!_ Like a siren. True this only make things worse since I am a commanding officer and as a man _I don't want to take advantage over this and call it a day._ My head was still flooded with thoughts on how I am going to resolve this but I must give her my reply first.

"Alright, since a woman is already asking me...and to me this is already a miraculous thing...I think I'll accept the offer, for now..." I said caressing her greenish-gray hair.

Still leaning her head on my forehead Zuikaku gently grabbed my hand and entangled it with hers. It was warm and shaking.

"Thank goodness...that was really embarrassing, hahaha." Zuikaku snickered as she raised her head, her cheeks were beet red from embarrassment. "Let's keep it a secret to one another okay?" She said.

"Alright, I just hope Admiral Goto won't find out about this. If so we are in big trouble." I replied with a smile. Similarity, Zuikaku as well gave me a smile and before long our smiles broke into a faint chuckle.

"Since I am taller, I will have the authoritative rule." She said.

"Hey that's not fair. I am a normal human being and you are a shipgirl it's an uneven match." I retorted and gently separated my hand from hers.

"Hey, I'm just 190 centimeters tall. You can still catch up if you eat well and drink milk." She replied as she walked back into the bed and grabbed the last piece of her purple colored set of underwear and wore it.

I don't think that's going to happen at all Zuikaku. I am already man on his early thirties. I don't think I am going to grow anytime soon.

"You could just give up on surpassing me and just stay under my authority for the rest of your life." She said calmly and wore her blue jeans.

"I think this is not love anymore but tyranny." I replied.

"I'm just messing with you." Zuikaku says as she approached me and pulled me closer. Her purple bra landing on my nose and her arms wrapped around my head. "I now have something to fight for other than my sister...you can count on me, Ermest-san." She said in a whispering tone.

With my heart pulsing rapidly like there's no tomorrow. I tried my best not to say something out of a light novel sentence. I just need to say something in simple words and not sugar coat it.

"Heh, is that so? Drop the _san_ part though, calling me Ermest is fine."

Dammit what did I just say?! I said not to say something out of a light novel!

"Or would you rather be called Fuck-san to hide our relationship?" She said with a smile.

"Please no, that curse has already given me a lot of problems already. Just call me with my given name like most shipgirls do." I said, pleading her.

Zuikaku gently pushed me away and took her blue shirt that was sprawled on the floor. She took a sniff at it and immediately released it to the ground, refusing to lay a finger at it.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Damn, the shirt still smells like puke. Say, is there a washing machine on the bathroom? I think I can just clean this here together with my black jacket." She said.

Aren't you the one who ordered this room? Well they could have a washing machine here somewhere since this is a motel.

"I think there's one back at the bathroom. The lights are broken though." I said to her whilst flipping the on and off switch of the bathroom light.

Zuikaku took notice of this and walked inside the bathroom. I heard a faint _Ah_ before she poke her head out of the opened bathroom door.

"Yep it still works, can you hand over my shirt and jacket?" She said.

Lethargically I walked towards her smelly clothes and walked towards the bathroom where I could hear the washing machine already making rumbling sounds. What I saw with my two eyes was a foaming washing machine and a shipgirl reading the given manual of the washing machine. The glass door of the washing machine was open too spilling the foam and water out, drenching the bathroom with foaming water.

"What in world are you doing?" Are the words that escaped my restraints of not retorting.

"I-I was just following the written manual, I did nothing wrong!" She said trying to persuade me.

"No. You even forgot to close the washing machine door. That is enough for me to conclude that you don't know what you're doing. Give me the powder bag, I'll wash your clothes!" I walked towards her, trying my best not to jokingly slip after saying those words.

Zuikaku refused to hand over the powder bag so we fought a bit with our hands and I was able to swipe away the powder bag from her.

"You insert the powder in this lid not inside the drum." I said to her and opened the insertion lid on the washing machine.

Using the cup inside the powder bag I only used a single cup of powder, she is only washing her shirt and jacket after all and adding a bit more would just only make it smell soapy if that's even a word.

"After that fill this brim with water and place it on this slot."

"Alright, sensei so would you please just let me do it myself? I bet you can't even the read words written on the controls." She says as she took her clothes that were hanging on my shoulder.

She then threw them inside the drum and closed the washing machine's door. Good girl, she then turned the first circular control with the words _speed_ written in kanji to half-speed and then turned the second control with the words _start_ written in English.

With a rumbling noise the washing machine finally did what it was designed to do, which was to wash dirty clothes.

"Just click the word _dry_ over there after the washing machine is done rumbling." I said to her.

"I'm not a kid you know?! Just go already!" She yelled and shooed me out of the bathroom.

With the bathroom door closed there was nothing I could do at the moment. Letting out a tired sigh. Facing the city outside the window of the motel, a chime echoed around the room.

It came from the drawer, so I walked towards it and pulled the first slot of the drawer that was placed at the right side of the bed. What I saw was my phone surrounded by torn open condom plastic containers. I wondered where the used up condoms went so out of curiosity I pulled the last slot and saw the used up condoms still moist. I immediately closed the third slot and reopened the first one where my phone was still ringing.

The one that was calling me was a random number. But I still need to answer the call since who knows it might be an important one or maybe just a prank call.

"Hello?" I asked after pressing the green button.

"Ah hello Ermest, it's me Akashi the shipgirl that helped you regrow your limbs and regenerate your wounds. If you could be so kind, can you tell me your whereabouts right now? You have a pressing order to show yourself in front of the Admiral this afternoon. And I am not a great engineer that could make a perfect copy of you!" She yelled at the phone that it made a ringing noise in my ear.

"Calm down, anyway thanks for telling me right away. I did not expect myself to get drunk yesterday. By the way I am currently at Hiroshima right now after a bad hangover." I explained to her.

With a screeching sound the bathroom door opened and with it Zuikaku's head sticking out.

"Despite the fact that we just became lovers you are already cheating on me?!" She said with a deadpan expression.

"What?! Who was that?! Who was that?! Who are you with?! Answer me, second lieutenant!" Akashi shouted on the phone.

I could only make a forced smile as I softly tried explaining things to the two of them. Zuikaku immediately understood and only gave me a nod before going back to the bathroom. Akashi on the other hand, well let's just say that she doesn't want to understand.

"Look that was just an old friend of mine playing a prank. Anyway about the meeting when exactly is it going to be held?" I asked her trying to change the subject.

"The meeting?! Ah that's right, Admiral Goto wants you to be on his office around four in the afternoon. I also need to find Zuikaku soon since she has a sortie with her older sister near the Marianas Region with the exact time frame…." Akashi said with a worried tone.

Tilting my head to the side I saw the wall clock on the room and immediately froze. The time was 10:30 in the morning….I am currently at Kure, Hiroshima. The nearest bullet train station is like... what? five kilometers away? I don't even know where we are right now. And if you include the time we have to travel by taxi….then lining up on the ticket section….waiting for the train to depart…..the time of travel by bullet train….and lastly finding a boat that would accept transporting us to the Naval Base…..

I lowered the phone from my ear and pressed the red button. I then inserted it inside my pockets and—

"Zuikaku we have to go now! Leave your clothes and wear mine!" I kicked the door open and pulled Zuikaku away from the foaming washing machine….did she broke it again?!

With a surprised expression she was pulled out of the bathroom still top naked. I took my gray long sleeves, left to dry at the floor and hastily let her wear it. After that I princess carried her out of the room, leaving her shoes on the floor.

"Wha-What are you doing?!" She shouted.

Before the elevator doors could close I inserted my hand in between them, activating the safety mechanism of the elevator. I moved in and pressed the ground floor button while still carrying Zuikaku on a princess carry.

"What a lively couple." I could hear an old man talking behind me.

"No you misunderstand—"Zuikaku spoke to the old man but before she could finish her sentence the elevator doors opened and I immediately ran out. Before I could finally get out of the building I placed my wallet on the counter with the woman giving me a baffled look.

"Take the necessary money to pay the bills and if you need coins then round it to the nearest number since all I have are paper money and I do not have coins on my pockets." I said to her and waited for her to move.

The woman hurriedly took the wallet and took around 8000 yen from my wallet and gave wallet back to me. I took the wallet and stuffed it inside my pocket.

"Thank you!" I shouted and ran outside.

"Sir where did you put the room key?!" The teller yelled.

Struggling on my arms is the tall shipgirl named Zuikaku. She tried jumping off from my clutches but I prevented her by holding her firmly with my large arms. I hailed a taxi and opened the back door, after that I threw Zuikaku on the backseat while I sat beside the driver.

"Hyah!" She yelped.

"Take us to the nearest bullet train station!" I yelled at the young driver.

With a startled expression the young driver slams his foot on the gas and pulled the gear stick. The taxi immediately accelerated from 0 mph to 60 mph in just two seconds. I still can't believe that taxi's these days could do that like how sport cars accelerate from 0 to 100.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Why are you in a rush?!" Zuikaku pushed the glass window on the backseat to the side and shouted right next to my ear.

"I have a meeting this afternoon and if we have depart now or I'll miss my appointment with Admiral Goto!" I said to her while staring at the open road.

"Then you could just leave me there as I wash my clothes! I can go home on my own you know?!" She rebuked.

"You have a sortie with your sister to the Marianas Region this afternoon as well. Specifically four in the afternoon..the same time frame as mine." I continued.

Zuikaku's expression immediately paled like paper. She leaned back to the backseat and showed a downcast expression to the window.

"The plan is to go to the Kure Bullet Train Line and then drop off on the Shin-Yokohama station and board another train to Higashi-Kanagawa Station to Yokohama Station then to the Kamakura Station before finally dropping off at Taura Station. I will also need a boat to transport us to the naval base." I said to her with a serious tone whilst looking at the path that I selected using Google Maps.

But I didn't get a response so I turn around to see what her situation was. What I saw was a shipgirl staring at the window, lifeless.

"After this bloody ordeal that we put ourselves on, come find me on my quarters; I'll buy you a dinner….and a canister full of bauxite."

Zuikaku immediately regained her composure and gave me a _thumb's up_ with a bright smile on her face. At least that cheered her up. The taxi then suddenly stopped with Zuikaku slamming a fist on my exposed face since we forgot to fasten our seat belts.

"Ah I'm so sorry!" The young taxi driver shouted and started apologizing.

"It's fine, here take this. The change is yours." I said and walked out of the taxi with a hand resting on my nose.

Zuikaku followed from behind and together we entered the air-conditioned train station. With a worried expression Zuikaku tried checking whether I my nose was bleeding or not but I told her I was fine and she let out a sigh.

"Come on, let's get our tickets already and depart." She said as she hastily tugged my hand.

What followed after were a mixed set of almost missing our train that we bought boarding tickets for and a lot of running towards the next train station and by the time we arrived at Yokosuka Harbor my wallet was already depleted. With that said.

"Now, you gotta have to carry me to reach the naval base." I said to the wheezing Zuikaku next to me.

"I hate you." She spoke with utter disdain.

"Well you gotta have to do some sacrifices for the person you just courted." I replied to her as I forced her to princess carry me.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

Notes: I'll be changing some chapters after this


	25. A slight detour

Into the new wold, **A slight detour**

* * *

 **Updated 06-10-2019**

* * *

 **February 8, 2051**

 **Time: 4:10 P.M**

 **Admiral Arimato Goto's Office**

"Twenty minutes late. I did not expect you to be this tardy, Second lieutenant." Admiral Goto spoke with a surprised tone as he lowered the papers he was reading. "So what's your excuse?" He asked.

Since I was pretty sure that one simple wrong alibi would get us caught, I tried my best to say something that is authentic.

"Zuikaku-san here drowned near our former camp, hence she is this drenched and is currently wearing my top uniform." I said to him.

"Wha—" Zuikaku tried to protest but I gave her a side glance, that immediately shut her up.

Admiral Goto leaned back on his chair and gave me suspicious look. He then pulled out a long bondpaper underneath his desk and raised it towards me. He gave me a nod before pointing at the bondpaper.

"Second Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku, you are hereby temporarily transferred to the Austrian Institute of Technology and Research located at Landeck, Austria." He said with a smile on his face.

I read along the words written on the paper that was written in English and immediately furrowed as I finish the last sentence.

"Titan Project?" I asked.

"Yes, your platoon will be sent there as pilots for these Titans that the Austrian Military somehow built. I want you to report to my best-friend, Head Engineer Holland at Landeck. You'll get further instructions there." He said with a serious tone.

Titans, they were first introduced by the Russian Federation during the great defensive shift after the fall of Paris and Hamburg. They were proven to be exceptionally effective against light land based abyssals like the Hu-type or the semi armored Ro-types. Although the heavier land based types like the Chu-types and others are still viewed as major threats on the battlefield.

"Can't you just request for the blueprint to be sent by email? I mean sending us to Austria would only make things difficult like finding a plane that could reach there. Even worst we could be intercepted by Abyssal planes admiral." I said to the Admiral Goto after reading the paper.

Admiral Goto shifted his eyes to Zuikaku before turning them back at me. I was kinda worried for a second there.

"Well, ask Engineer Holland about that. Lastly, I'm pretty sure he doesn't like sending blueprints via email. Also you won't be going to Austria alone because my Air Force branch will be going there with you to test out the newly developed High Altitude Fixed Wing Fighter designed by the Italian Air Force." Admiral Goto explained.

I've been told before that there are also different branches included in Admiral Goto's so called Experimental Platoons. That would be the Army Branch, Navy Branch, and lastly the Air Force Branch. Each branch is placed all over Japan like in Hokkaido where the Navy Branch is currently posted and lastly the Air Force Branch which is posted on Okinawa.

"By the way, after you arrive at Landeck I want you to give this to the Swiss Embassy located at the Liechtenstein, Switzerland." Admiral Goto placed a cylindrical container on his table. The words inscribed on the container were written in German which only makes things suspicious.

"I need you to deliver this for me to a man named Otto Kursk. He is working on the Swiss Embassy and also I want you to say _Lieferung serviert_ first before shaking his hand." Admiral Goto elaborated.

What? The hell does that mean? What is inside the container? These questions were appearing inside my head like a mantra.

"So what's inside the container?" I asked

"That's classified information unfortunately. Anyway you will depart this evening so I suggest you to brief your men and prepare your luggage. Now, for you Zuikaku. I have an important issue for you and the Fifth Main Battle Fleet." He said with a sympathetic tone.

Admiral Goto then took a glance at me and nodded, my time in the office has ended and he is telling me that his talk with Zuikaku is important for the two of them and I am not allowed to hear a thing about it.

I gave Zuikaku a worried look and she only smiled back and said "I'll see you later." with certainty.

With that said I saluted to Admiral Goto and walked out of his office. Slowly I closed the wooden doors and let out a sigh. Softly, I felt a tap from my shoulder and immediately turned my head to identify who it was.

Unknowingly it was Admiral Goto's second wife Yura. Her pink hair was tied into a horsetail using a large black ribbon. She had this look of curiosity and she was holding the cylindrical object that Admiral Goto placed on top of his table.

"You forgot this." She said with a soft tone.

"Wha—" Unable to say a word and the cylindrical container landed on my arms.

"How did I manage to get hold of this without you noticing? Well let's just say that I was standing inside the office all along and due to my low presence I was able to walk after you without you even noticing." She said with a bright smile on her face.

I didn't even hear a footstep...

"Anyway you shouldn't worry about the orders that Zuikaku is going to receive this afternoon. It's just a recon mission at the Marianas Region with her fleet, nothing special." She explained with her expression frozen in a smile, it was as if I was looking back on a mannequin.

"I-I am not really that worried." I replied.

Yura walked back, hiding both of her hands on her back and leaned forwards. She had this look where you could say that she was having fun.

"Oh please, I know how a man looks when he is worried about the well-being of his lover." She said with a smug written on her face. "Not that I really know everything. Anyway you should be going now. Zuikaku's meeting with the admiral is going to be a long one."

Yura turned the doorknob and slowly entered the office but before she could fully close the door she popped her head back at me, a grin on her face was painted.

"Or you could stay outside and wait for her. It depends on you." She then closed the door.

I guess for the time being, I think Yura already got the gist of it….Shit, we've been caught.

~o~

"And so that concludes the meeting." I said lethargically.

Sitting on five rows and three columns are the soldiers under my command. There were some noticeable changes though, more on the physical side of things. You might not know this but most of the soldiers under my command do not own a knife or a shaving blade since we basically broke them through misuse conduct. Crisanto didn't issue a proper hygiene rule upon us so a lot of the men in the 501st had a competition on who's going to have a sexy looking beard by the end of the year. And as you might have known by now the men under my command had these striking resemblance as General Aladeen of the movie _The Dictator._

But now for obvious reasons none of them are wearing any beards. All of them have shaved them off like all those days they've pilled up just to build up their beards were nothing to them. Upon entering my platoon quarters I immediately took notice of this sudden change but I did not dare asking them until now.

"So what's with the sudden makeover?" I asked after briefing them.

The first one to answer my question was Pvt. Mophisto 'Mop' Cardinal. He was sitting on the front row wearing a Japanese otaku shirt who knows where he bought them and had his hair fixed from a serenade emo looking soldier to a more _fatherly_ looking soldier. No I am not kidding, though Mop already has his own family so the _father looking_ part is not an exaggerated description.

"Well for one thing—we had enough money to buy a shaving blade and got our hair trimmed. Another is that almost all of the civilians walking in the city were staring at us with puzzled and wary looks." He said with a side glance.

Wait—

"You guys were together during the day off?" I asked.

"Yep, you were the only one not with us during our day-off. We went to a lot of places you know? Like the new park erected on Tokyo Square or the new tower called the Tokyo Central Tower which was taller than the old Tokyo Tower." Vas spoke at the back with a notebook on his face.

"You were having fun without me?! How could you guys do that to me?!" I shouted in agony.

"Well, you _were_ the one who said that you have an _appointment_ with Yamato so we didn't bother you. Lastly, I doubt you would ever come with us even if we invited you out." Val spoke unenthusiastically.

After all this time? After all the hardships that I have went through during my day-off? You guys were having fun on you own?!

"Also, you manage to get yourself drunk on your own. _That_ is enough for us to conclude that _you_ were having fun on your own. So it didn't really bother us." Cpl. Selica 'Sel' Romanov spoke as she fixes her ponytail.

"Oh come on!" I complained.

"You missed the chance to witness how Sel was almost arrested by the local police when they saw her taking a smoke inside a bank!" Mountain said with a chuckle.

Sel slowly stood up from her chair and threw a left hook at the poor corporal's face. Although Sel is a woman, she is still the strongest fighter in the platoon.

"Any more comments about that _accident_?" She spoke intimidatingly.

And none of them ever spoke about it again. With a sigh the squadron leader of 1st squad stood up and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Well at least you came back safe, Kilogram wouldn't shut up about not inviting him when we came back yesterday." Lomo spoke with a sigh.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"Yep, all limbs regrown and operational. All wounds healed and damaged organs regenerated. I gotta say Akashi's healing compound is really a wonder in the field of science. My old fetishes as a former doctor are making me cringe on how she made that healing compound." Lomo spoke with both of his hands rubbing his shoulders.

I've heard about Kilogram's state when I woke up after the events that happened on the Kyushu Operating Zone. Akashi told me in detail how 80 percent of Kilogram's body was gone and how he was fighting a losing arm wrestle against _death_. If we haven't returned sooner by chopper, Kilogram would've died before Akashi could use her healing compound.

"He'll be discharged from Akashi's Medical Ward tomorrow. Well we could get him out now if you tell him that we will being to Europe. Maybe that might give him an excuse to jump of the bloody bed." Lomo said with his raised and a complacent smile on his face.

True, though I wonder if he really does want to come with us...and on Austria of all places. Well there is no way of knowing unless I ask him personally, although he'll probably not come with us since he is still recovering.

"So, care to explain why you were drunk yesterday on your own? I highly doubt that you just suddenly felt the need of getting drunk." Val asked with a grin on his face.

"Just as you said, I suddenly felt the need of getting drunk." I replied to him with a serious look.

Lomo slowly raised both of his hands again and turned around before walking towards his bed. The others then scattered and starting packing their clothes, and equipment. I too need to pack my own clothes and equipment soon but before I could start that, I need to do something first.

"Ah LT, when will we specifically depart this evening?" Pvt. Renir 'Zeno' Quezon asked as he opened his cabinet.

Did Admiral Goto specify _when_ we will be departing? Did I somehow forget about it?

"Ah, well about that...I do not know." I reply with a sigh.

"Is that so? Then it looks like we'll be missing our plane." He said with a calm tone.

Dammit I need to ask Admiral Goto about the time, it would be bad if we are late on our departure.

With a faint knock the platoon doors opened and a greenish-gray haired shipgirl popped her head inside.

"Ermest, about the di—"she immediately swallowed her words when she saw Mountain halfway through from removing his trousers. The poor corporal could only smile and pull his trousers up before fastening it with his belt before finally turning around acting like Zuikaku didn't saw him.

I was standing near the door and I could see the whole movement inside the room immediately froze when Zuikaku popped out her head inside the room.

"Ah, it looks like you are still busy. I'll be waiting outside." She said in a hurry and closed the door gently.

Slowly the door closed and the room was engulfed in silence. I turned my head to Lomo who was staring at me…well all of them are staring at me.

"What was that about?" Lomo asked with a curious tone.

"Nothing really" I replied as I turned the doorknob and hastily exited the room.

~o~

Zuikaku was looking at me on the eyes as I gave her the bauxite canister that I promised to give her.

"I really can't believe that you actually stole one at the resources stockpile." She said with astonishment.

"Just to be clear, I actually asked Akashi for one. I didn't steal one." I corrected her.

Zuikaku only shrugged her shoulders and took the canister from my hand. Using a can opener the bauxite can have its contents revealed and Zuikaku had this bright smile as she used a spoon to scoop the liquefied bauxite out of the can and stuffed it inside her mouth.

"I did not expect you to be a glutton." I spoke in amazement.

"Hey now, I'm an aircraft carrier. I need my resources you know?" She complained with a furrowed eyebrow.

I could only scratch the back of my head as I sat near her. We are currently two hundred meters from the shipgirl dormitory, basically on the shores of the Naval Base. Hiding underneath the shade of a tree, both of us watching the night scenery in front of us.

"Just to be clear, I do not have any ulterior motives to lure you here. I just wanted to hide the fact that we are meeting right now." I said to her as I opened my dinner.

"Not that it matters to me. As long as you ask permission I wouldn't mind. Anyway why did you bring _that,_ don't they taste bad? Why don't you just order a packed food at Mamiya's?" She asked as she peels off the remaining bauxite on the can.

By _that_ she was referring to the MRE that was given to me before I briefed my men. Also, Zuikaku dear there is already nothing left on the can so could you please stop scrapping the insides of the aluminum can because you are hurting my ears with that stinging noise! Anyway should I be worried about the fact that she said that if I asked permission she will—no wait she didn't clarify it.

"Re—"

"Austria huh? That's a random place to be posted on." She said as she placed the bauxite can on the sand.

"Yep, behind the bloodiest frontline human kind has ever fought on." I said to her as I stuffed a carrot in my mouth. It was sour, really sour, seriously how can a carrot taste this sour?!

Zuikaku had this expression on her face, she looked calm but the aura around her was offsetting. She hugged her own knees with both of her hands and rested her chin on top of them. She let out a faint _Ahhh~_ before turning her head towards me.

"Figures….oh well, at least bring some souvenirs once you come back." She said.

"Hmm, souvenirs huh? What would you like me to bring?" I asked her.

She had this long pause, like five seconds long before she decided to answer my question with a deadpan expression.

"Bring me a lucky rock." She said.

I could feel my mouth hung down as that sentence is being processed by my brain. A lucky rock you say? Where am I going to mine that one?!

"A lucky rock you say?"

"Yes, did you know that I am actually a so _called_ lucky ship? Not just in the combined fleet but as well as the in the old Imperial Japanese Navy. Not that it really mattered to me, I just want something to give my sister a boost in confidence you know? Since she is a klutz in everything and Yamashiro promoting _misfortune_ sayings on Shoukaku only makes things worse." She let an annoyed sigh before she buried her face on her knees.

"So to say, you want a lucky rock to convince your sister that she still has something that would bring fortune to her? Do actually believe in miracles, Zuikaku." I said to her.

Zuikaku only nodded. It was not long before we suddenly fell silent. Both of us watched the blue ocean that was vividly clear in front of us. The gray clouds in the sky were like waves, surrounding the white and blue moons on the sky. Nobody knows where the blue moon came from, some say that this moon suddenly popped there like it was there at the beginning only to be seen today when the seasons were inverted. Some even say that the blue moon represented the end of earth, and some even went overboard by stating that the blue moon was there to represent convergence...who knows which of those _theories_ is the real answer.

"Ermest-san. What do you define love as?"

I listened to those words with a calm look. I listened to the ocean breeze that collided with my hair and face, it made me feel calm but at the same time out of place. The cold breeze gave me a sudden chill down my spine as I let the silence echoed for a couple of seconds. While all of that was happening the shipgirl beside me, with her hair fluttering by the breeze, calmly gaze at me.

"My sister, Shoukaku, told me that love is something you experience when you care about something. Be it a living thing or a non-living thing. She told me love is like an admiration towards something. But at the moment no matter how many times she explained it to me, I still can't get my mind to understand what it is—"

"Do you care for your sister?" I interjected.

Zuikaku blinked her eyes twice in bafflement. She then let out an exasperated sigh before scratching the edge of her right eyebrow.

"Of course you dummy—"

"Then that's love, Zuikaku. Family-tied love." I explained.

Zuikaku stared silently back at me as I gave her my answer. With the cold night sea breeze her hair fluttered once again, somehow she looked alluring as I stared longer at her.

"I never expected you to be this bad at understanding it..." I softly muttered, "It seems I will be taking back what I said this morning."

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused at my words

"Remember what I said back at Hiroshima?"

"Vaguely, yes." She replied.

"Back then I asked you to think deeper about the concept of us going out. This is what I am talking about. If you can't understand what love _is_ then what is the point of us going out?" I explained to her.

"But something happened between us...on that night the two of us made out..." She explained.

I gave her a smile before shaking my head, "Zuikaku-san. Do you even know me? Do you know my hobbies? Do you even know what my likes and dislikes are?" I asked her.

Zuikaku blinked her eyes twice and avoided my gaze. Fumbling with her fingers, she gave thought to the questions that I asked her. Basic questions that would've born a bond with another. She couldn't give me answer, she fell silent.

"See...? You couldn't think of something." I said to her, "I...kinda don't understand the logic of us going out just _because_ the two of us mated for a single night...If you don't have feelings...stronger than the feelings you harbor towards your only sister then there is no point of us going out." I explained.

The atmosphere was then shrouded by silence once more. I somehow gave her my thoughts regarding her question.

"Then what do you propose we do?" She asked her expression defeated.

"Honestly...how about we just be close friends for now? How do you say it Japanese...Tomodachi." I suggested.

Zuikaku gave me with a shocked expression. Her mouth opened in agape and her eyes dilated. She then let out a chuckle, loud enough that the sound of the waves were gone from my hearing.

"Why haven't I gave thought of that?!" She declared with a laugh.

I felt stupid for some reason as I watched her hug her stomach and laughed. Closing my eyes, I shook my head and uttered, "Oh shut it. You're gonna alert the Marine Guards with your stupid laugh."

While sitting on the sand, Zuikaku extended her hand towards me. Her cheeks bright red from her recent laughter and a smile on her face.

"Close friends" She declared.

The boastful aircraft carrier that was known to be reckless but at the same time professional in the battlefield was now extending her hand towards me. What sudden turn of events, I say.

"heh, Close friends." I replied shaking her hand vigorously.

Before I could let go of her hand though, suddenly she pulled me closer. Her soft lips met with mine. She had her eyes closed, while mine was dilated in shock. It was a prolonged kiss and when we separated she touched her lips with her left fingers.

"Thank you." She said with a soft voice.

 _But for what?_ I asked myself.

"For making me look stupid in front of you..." She added before letting out a sigh.

"Hey you are talking to a walking idiot." I rebutted back.

Zuikaku then stood up from the sand and puffed the sand that was accumulated on her skirt and legs. She then extended her hands once more back at me, prompting me to stand on my feet. I obliged and held her hand until I was now standing.

"I hope..." She said before suddenly pausing, "Nevermind" She continued, turning her gaze away.

"Let's go back to our respective places. Me going back to the dormitory and you doing what you have to do..." She said to me.

"Yeah" I muttered, following her towards the shipgirl dormitory.

"Say how about we get some beers? Maybe we could, you know, know each other more by drinking beer." She suggested.

"How about, no. Before you knew it something might happened between us again."

"Okay, water it is!"

~o~

The sound of shells pinging on the ground echoed throughout the destroyed city of Hamburg. Standing alone at the middle of the road is a single BT-class Titan armed with a 75mm autocannon. The Titan almost 7 meters tall had multiple penetration holes that could be seen all over its chassis. BT-1100 just unloaded a magazine packed full of high velocity 75mm shells to a heavily armored land based abyssal currently battered and bruised all over.

The abyssal was snarling louder and louder, by snarling the abyssal could call in reinforcements but unfortunately for the abyssal there are no reinforcements coming. Its pack of Hu-types that was protecting it has already been dealt with by the Titan.

"Borris just kill that abyssal already and link up with Vladimir. I don't want our Nazi friends to be chewed to death by that c _yka._ " A deep male voice entered the ears of the pilot inside the armed chassis of the Titan.

"Bitali you have to stop calling our friends _Nazi's_ you know? That is offensive to them. Lastly, they can hear you on the intercoms too." Borris replied as he turned the joystick that allows his Titan to turn the barrel of his weapon towards the abyssal.

"They raped my grand-mama on the Second World War that is enough for me to keep calling them Nazi's!" Bitali shouted on the intercoms.

Borris could only put a hand on his pilot helmet that is made of ceramic and steel, protecting his head from metal fragments and other injures that could hurt him on the head.

He felt hot. Literally, he is surrounded by hundreds of small monitors connected to a small camera outside the Titan as well as the two eye sensors of his Titan's head. He has 360 vision coverage making blind spots almost nonexistent when inside this metal cage.

The downside though was the heat wave emitted by these monitors. Imagine yourself inside a tank with the engine compartment right next to you and you are traveling on the Saharan desert. Yes, that kind of hot.

"I need to install air conditioning appliances in this thing." Borris said with a snarl as he stopped his Titan and aimed the barrel of this 75mm autocannon at the abyssal in front of him. "Sorry, little girl but I need to finish you off."

Borris fired a round at the abyssal's soft spot which is its armpit. He consumed a single magazine worth of 50 rounds just to remove the armor plating that protects it.

The abyssal screamed in agony before falling down to the ground, its last breath uttered. Borris then let's out a sigh of relief as the abyssal ceased to move, then a video feed appeared at the top of his _Head's Up Display._

"Borris, Vladimir here. I've arrived at the city center. Ground forces have already cleared the city and are now preparing for a major counterattack. We should refuel and restock ourselves for the time being." Vladimir spoke with a flat tone.

"What's with you? You sounded flat just now." Borris asked before mobilizing his Titan again towards the city center.

"Well, Artyom's dead. He died protecting the underwater subway tunnel that leads to the opposite side of the bank. The tunnel collapsed and his Titan was crushed together with the soldiers attached to his unit."

With an unfazed expression, Borris stared at the soldiers that were walking along the highway that he just recently defended. It was the only surviving highway that leads to the opposite bank of Hamburg. With that secured the ground forces could make a turn around by the taking the next city, Bremen. And from there to a city named Leer before pushing through to the Netherlands border.

But—

"A replacement will arrive soon. He did what he had to do." Borris replied to his squad leader with a cold tone.

Vladimir did not urge to continue the conversation and just ended it right there. Unable to do anything about Artyom's dead, Borris could only switch the auto pilot mode of his Titan and pulled a chalk from his chest pocket.

Inside the dome of radiating monitors, Borris pressed the off button of a particular monitor and pulled it out. Behind it are tally marks of around 40 abyssals eliminated. With the recent kills, that makes his kills jump to 51 but those were not the only tallies written.

"That's the tenth one." Borris muttered.

Written with X's right below the eliminated abyssal tally are the tallies for _destroyed Titans._ Borris remembered vividly how the Titan's in the 9th Mechanized Battalion were replaced almost weekly. Each of these Titan battalions has ten Titans each and divided into two groups, five titans on each group. Lastly they are accompanied by a light infantry company as well as a maintenance company.

Borris is under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bitali Zerov, which is second battalion, second titan group. He's been in the European theater for about a year and has seen enough action that could mark him as a Titan Ace in his group of five titans.

In his group Vladimir Putin is the Lead Titan together with other three Titan pilots: Artyom Tuss, Nikita Pavalot, and Alexi Smirnov.

However these three they are not battle hardened titan pilots unlike Borris or Vladimir. These are the new replacements that were sent from Russia to fill in the gaps after losing three Titans on retaking Hamburg. These three replacements just took their baptism of fire at the Battle of Höltigbaum. An open field were Abyssal emplacements were concentrated to block the ground forces from breaking through. They luckily survived but in the end they still lost Artyom.

After twenty minutes of travel Borris arrived at the city center where his battalion has already set up a defensive perimeter. Standing at the middle where a tent is erected is a group of soldiers wearing uniforms that he hasn't seen before. When he took a glance at their shoulders he saw their nationality and at the same time he let out a _tsk._

"Ah, Borris you're finally here." Vladimir spoke in Russian and shook Borris' hand.

"The fuck is this about?" He asked.

Vladimir swayed and pointed a finger at the light skin soldier that had an aura of _not wanting to be on the frontlines_. The soldier saluted with his right hand and spoke in English.

"Second Lieutenant, Ermest Fustaku of the 1st EDP Army Branch. We were sent here by Engineer Holland to test out the new Titans that he developed in Austria." The soldier said with a tone that is asking _what the fuck I am doing here._

~o~

 **Three days ago**

 **Tura, Central Russia**

After a bumpy ride from Japan to Vladivostok, Four planes soared into the night sky of Russia. The vastness of the country gave the passengers in the transport plane the realization of how small their country was compared to the one they are seeing. Around 12 in the morning the flight of four aircraft landed on Tura located at very center of Russia's vastness. The city of Tura is the convergence zone for many people that seek refuge from the dangers that came from the west. For most people that lived on the West, close to the frontlines, the vastness of Russia's open plains on the East were like beacons for them. A beacon where they could live in peace, away from the falling bombs and the realization that anytime the abyssals would attack on their sleep.

Many cities on East became heavily populated with refugees. Cities like Ust-ilimsk, Irkutsk, and many other cities that lived near a large river became _refugee cities._ Tura is one of those said _refugee cities._ Military bases are erected throughout the city and two airfields are built for the Allied Armies to use. If it weren't for Admiral Goto's connections the four aircraft that contained the soldiers and personnel from Japan wouldn't have landed and refueled their planes for their journey towards the West.

With their equipment still packed inside the aircraft the soldiers of the 1st EDP were called out of the transport plane. One of the transport plane's engine was damaged so the tight schedule that they were following was disrupted. With the plane out of commission for a single day, 2nd LT. Ermest Fustaku was forced to temporary stay in the city until the repairs are completed.

"Are you the commanding officer?" A soldier wearing a green uniform approached the 2nd Lieutenant, covering his eyes from the dust blown all over the tarmac.

"Affirmative" Fustaku replied.

"Get your men to the barracks just west of the control tower. I've already called a guy to transport your men there!" The soldier explained, pointing his finger towards the truck parked near the Arado 500 Transport Plane.

Fustaku with his hand hovered above his helmet moved his way towards the ramp of the transport plane and called his second in command.

"Lomo, get the men to pack the equipment and board the logy!" Fustaku ordered, pointing his hand at the logy.

In swift motion the soldiers inside the Arado 500 grabbed their gear and rushed their way towards the parked logy that was smashing the horn to hurry them up. The soldier on the wheels was urging the soldiers to hurry, and they complied.

"All in!" Vas slammed his fist on the roof twice and yelled those words.

The driver immediately pulled the gear stick and stepped on the gas. As the engines of the Arado 500 finally went into cold sleep, Fustaku was now able to hear what the driver was speaking. The man had a shaved head and a long beard. His eyes were narrow and a scar could be seen on his flat forehead.

"What?" Fustaku yelled.

"I said what the cyka are you guys doing here at the middle of nowhere?!" The driver yelled in English.

Lomo who was sitting beside Fustaku at the three man front seat chuckled and shook his head. The driver only sneered as he leaned his head underneath the rear mirror and looked at the dark blue sky.

"Anyway my name is Homer." The driver said with a jolly tone.

"Fustaku, and guy at the back is Lomo." Fustaku replied removing his helmet from his head.

"Fustaku? What kind of a name is that?" Homer laughed but Fustaku only pinched his nose and faced out of the window.

The cold air blew on his skin, he felt it burrow into his cheekbones. The cold Russian wind so they say. Fustaku gazed in confusion at the empty airfield, it was devoid of any strike aircraft that would've been used if any abyssal planes are spotted. Airfield personnel were also at minimal compared to an airfield that was near the frontline.

"What's with this place?" Fustaku muttered.

"The place is almost deserted, I know. All available aircraft are sent into the West, large stingray like behemoths were spotted at the frontline bombing our boys to smithereens." Homer explained as he followed a trail that was covered in mud towards the barracks.

"Commercial aircraft as well?" Lomo asked.

Homer only nodded as he glances at the side mirror before turning the wheel counterclockwise. The truck gave a gentle left turn, before coming into a slow stop beside a large building that was devoid of any people.

"You'll be staying here for a day or two, yes?" Homer asked before Furtaku could open the side door.

"Until the maintenance personnel says so." Lomo was the one who answered.

"Is that so? Well enjoy your stay. Please, don't venture too far from the fences." Homer paused before clearing his throat, "They don't take foreigners here kindly."

Fustaku smiled, turning his head towards Homer then Lomo, "We appreciate the concern. But we won't be coming out of that fence if the need arises, you can bet on that." Fustaku swung the door open, yelling the names of Val and Vas to unload the bags inside the empty barracks.

"Mop, get that radio working before we depart this empty city." Fustaku spoke with a cold tone towards the fatherly figure of the platoon.

"Got that." Mop replied.

"What's wrong, LT?" Sel walked beside Fustaku, giving him a frown and a worried expression.

Fustaku shook his head as he stared at the empty barracks and the almost empty airfield. He gave it a very intent look, checking the tower the hangars...everything.

"Something about this place is giving me the...edge...The sooner we get out of this place the better." Fustaku spoke, hastily approaching the entrance of the barracks.

The men of the 1st EDP found their way towards the resting area, wooden beds that were already rotting could be seen. Not to mention the foul odor of the sheets that were used to cover up the mattress.

"Jesus." Val yapped in displeasure.

"Alright, find a bed that's not gonna collapse by your weight and get some rest. We might be staying here for about a day or two..." Lomo announced as he sat his aching ass on a dusty mattress.

Fustaku strolled until he reached the last bed. It was constructed using stainless steel and it was laking a mattress. When he dropped his heavy backpack on it the metal webbing immediately snapped due to the corrosion. He immediately sought for a wooden bed, for safety purposes.

"LT. Fustaku here?" A man wearing a pilot's attire entered the barracks.

Fustaku naturally raised his hand before dropping his backpack once more on a mattress, it didn't break nor had it's spring popped out. Removing his helmet the second lieutenant approached the pilot in haste.

"What is it?" Fustaku asked.

"LT, I have some bad news." The pilot croaked.

"Bad news is all that we have right now...Fire away" Fustaku urged, giving the pilot a heavy shrug.

"Engine two is repairable." The pilot let says with a low tone, "However the mechanics are telling us that the repairs should be completed around in the morning."

That news alone gave Fustaku a little bit of encouragement to suck up the situation that they are in. Despite it being a bad news, for Fustaku it _was_ good news.

"At least we won't be staying here for long." Sel spoke rejectingly from the back.

"True. I've already consolidated my men in this building. You should get your pilots on the opposite hall. Ursa, came there and told me that there are unoccupied beds there." Fustaku added.

The transport plane pilot 2nd LT. Gherman Paulus nodded and exited the room. Paulus is the one that currently piloted the Arado 500 transport plane from Austria to Japan. According to Admiral Goto's words, _it was a miracle he managed to get here in one piece_.

If it weren't for Paulus, Fustaku and the pilots from Admiral Goto's Experimental Wing we wouldn't have arrived in Tura in one piece. Fustaku was grateful for Paulus' knowledge on the route, a route where Abyssal Planes wouldn't suddenly pounce on you if you let down your guard.

Fustaku stared at the back of the pilot that was tasked on transporting him and the men under Fustaku's command to Austria. If they lose Paulus now...

"I don't even wanna think about it..." Fustaku muttered, as he rotated his shoulder and headed back to his bed to get some shut-eye.

~o~

It was late when Fustaku felt his head ringing for some reason. Slowly he opened his eyes and inhaled air into his lungs. The bitter air immediately woke him out of his drowsy state and into full alert. Hastily, he rose into his feet and examined his surrounding.

White...He was surrounded by a white world. The sky was dark and white particles fell from the sky, some forming small hills around his bed. It was snow, Fustaku concluded as he examined a handful of them falling on his hands.

It startled him, he remembered clearly that he went to sleep immediately after arriving at Tula but right now there are no sight of his soldiers nor the room that he has rested upon. The bed that he was sleeping on, was alone in the woods surrounded by snow—alone with no shelter from the snow.

"Hello?!" Fustaku yelled into the darkness hoping that someone would yell back to him.

But he heard no response just the silent whistle of the winter wind. The cold got him a few moments later, Fustaku's muscles spasm out of control trying produce enough heat for the body but without the proper set of clothes or a source of heat he will not last long.

"Is this a tasteless prank or did those fuckers sold me off?" Fustaku wandered on the cold forest mumbling those words.

With the sheets of the bed wrapped around his face, he was able to keep his face covered momentarily. His eyelashes and eyebrows though we not so fortunate, ice could be seen building up on them and right below his eyes are purple colored tissues.

Unable to find shelter, Fustaku took the matters into his own hands and built himself a snow igloo. He still did not have any source of heat but at least he was now _temporarily_ sheltered from the falling snow.

"Brother..."

Fustaku's ears twitched and his eyes widen. He heard that voice before; cheerful, full of energy, and spirit. Yes, it was a very familiar voice, a voice that has not heard for a very long time.

Hastily, Fustaku crawled out of his igloo and looked for the voice's origin. He turned his head clockwise, waiting for the voice to echo again, then for a split second he heard it again, this time it was a cold monotone voice.

"Emilia?! Emilia, where are you?!" Fustaku screamed in his own language, his _mother tongue_ almost not spoken for over five years.

He yelled for her sister's voice, again and again until he was certain that he located where the origin came from.

Fustaku found himself deep into the woods surrounded by thick dead trees. The snow has stopped falling and the wind ceased from howling. The snow was almost knee deep high, but he couldn't feel the snow covering half of his legs. He wondered whether his feet had frozen off to the point that if he suddenly move they would break off easily or rather has he gotten used to the cold? But he also knew that he has no innate ability that allows him to quickly adapt to the cold so with a gulp he slowly moved his leg upward only to realize that his legs were indeed not frozen off.

"Why isn't this a surprise?" A female voice entered his ears.

Immediately, Fustaku turned his attention to what's in front of him. It was a woman with pale white skin and is wearing a pure white dress, almost like a wedding attire. Fustaku froze on the spot when he saw the eyes of the woman. Pure black, the abyss staring back at him. Her presence was so strong that it devoid Fustaku the thought of him fleeing.

"Well I was indeed having a hard time dealing with other problems back at home so I did not have the time to contact you." The woman spoke once more, her voice calm yet dangerous.

Fustaku closed both of his eyes and let out a couple of deep breaths. He prayed to the gods that he no longer prayed for a long time, begging them to wake him up if this is a dream but the gods did not answer, only the faint chuckle of the dark eyed woman answered his prayer.

 _no no no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_ _no_

"Closing your eyes won't make me disappear, human." The woman spoke, forcing Fustaku's closed eyes to open using both of her slender hands.

Fustaku grunted in pain as his eyes were opened, he saw the jet-black eyes once more up close and personal. He felt the woman's cold presence and icy cold skin. The hairs all over his body were all in attention, he was in a dangerous position.

"Now that's better..." The woman spoke with a smile, a smile that send chills down Fustaku's spine.

"What...do you want from me...?" Fustaku asked his voice stuttering.

"My-my, I almost thought you lost your ability to talk. Now that worries me." The woman replied, her expression painting a shock expression.

"I've done what you've asked of me before... I failed...and as punishment you'll _liquidate_ my family...So why are you back?" Fustaku asked, his complexion pale.

The woman smiled brightly before raising her hand into the air. It was not a simple slender hand, her fingers were almost two feet long and nails almost as sharp as a spear. The skin almost resembling a decaying meat of but it did not show any signs of breaking off.

Then a girl almost five feet in height walked into the open. She wore clothes patched with dirt and dried blood. Her eyes covered with black cloth and her legs were marked with multiple scratches and wounds.

"Emilia!" Fustaku yelled but the woman stopped him from his tracks.

"I see no point in killing her. You still have use after all." The woman spoke before waving her hand and Fustaku's sister suddenly faded from view.

Fustaku's heart sank deeply. It's been almost five years since he has seen his sister. When he left his homeland she was no taller than a mere middle schooler but now she was already on a high schooler's height. He saw his sister's distinctive brown hair that she got from his father, despite not seeing his sister's eyes he knew what the color was and he knew it was green.

Filled with regret and agony, Fustaku fell into his knees as he watched the empty spot where his sister previously stood. He bit the lower part of his lips, he knew he has failed her...

"Oh what are you crying for? You've seen her haven't you? How long was it now? Four, no five! Oh cheer up boy you'll see her soon in the near future!" The woman spoke with a cheerful tone.

"In the near future?" Fustaku asked with a realization.

"That is if you follow exactly as I say..." The woman crouched beside Fustaku, her empty eyes staring straight into him. "I have lost something important to me. No it was stolen from me by that brat shipgirl she calls herself Yura. Now this _thing_ is important because it keeps my minions in line and without it I will be having a hard time controlling my minions, after all they aren't exactly mine. So here is my task for you. Return what was taken from me and bring it back to your homeland. If you do that, I will return your sister. If you fail me again...I will still return her to you but...she will be lacking some parts."

Fustaku fell silent. He knew what the woman was talking about, and he himself was similarly tasked to bring the _thing_ to Western Europe specifically to Switzerland. Admiral Goto did not tell him who or where he got the _thing_ from but now he finally understood the reason why the abyssals did not attack further inland. It was not because they are having a hard time breaking through the heavy concentration of soldiers on the south but because—

"How long will you be living in a story packed with lies? Isn't it time for you to finally drop the act?" The woman asked with a wide smile.

2nd Lieutenant Ermest Fustaku fell silent. He stared blankly at the hole where the feet of his sister stood. He gave thought to his failure to assassinate the first shipgirl Atago back in 2047. He grieved at his failure, grieved that he has failed his family and that he let them to die because of his failure but now with his sister's life at risk he has to act.

"Now tell me Ermest Fustaku, son of Elliot Fustaku third of his name. Will you complete your task or not?" The woman...no the Abyssal asked with a flat tone.

"It shall be done...Queen Valak." Fustaku spoke with a heavy tone.

And as soon as he spoke those words he was awaken by the scent of smoke filling his lungs.

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **[Starting from now this chapter, I will be changing the content of the chapters until the present chapter. I will be adding some additional _content_ to some chapters and editing some. Thanks for reading 3]**


	26. Switch

**Switch**

It was a great cold evening, a cup of evening coffee and a small crumb of bread was the only thing currently sitting at the table. The steam was rising from the coffee mug and the man setting on the couch noticed this.

He took the mug and placed it under his chin, the lid of the mug was still warm so he placed the mug back at the table and instead took a bread crumb from the silver platter. He heard a muffled rumble from the distance but shrugged it off since the Swiss Embassy building is currently sitting behind the Europa Line where a gruesome battle between humans and monsters are ravaging.

"The sender has arrived!" The doors opened and a man wearing a black tuxedo and a black tie yelled at the top of his lungs.

The man named Otto Kursk nodded and stood up from the couch and turned his attention to the man panting heavily.

"What's wrong Tulion? You don't have to run all the way up here when you can just use the elevator." Otto said as he walked pass the man named Tulion.

"I always forget that we have a working elevator so I cannot deny that. Anyway, Admiral Goto's sender has finally arrived but—" Tulion paused.

"What's wrong?" Otto turned around and asked with a serious look.

"He took the scenic route." The man named Tulion answered.

~o~

When he got outside of the embassy building what greeted him was a 25 foot robot that had two unknown soldiers arguing at its shoulders. One man was shouting in Asian language that he does not know and the other one was yelling in English. Otto only threw a glance at them before turning all of his attention to the man standing in front of the robot.

He was carrying a cylindrical canister with one hand and a paper on the other. It was the same letter he sent via mail that had a red stamp to fasten it close.

"Right on time." Otto spoke with amazement as he took a glance at his wrist watch.

"I had to use my subordinate's Titan since I still don't know how to pilot mine. Here, the cylinder that you really wanted to be delivered." The soldier holding the cylindrical object raised it around his face before placing it on the stone pavement.

The man was wearing a metallic helmet that covered his whole head. The front had a large X visor that had greenish-blue backlighting. The man in front of him appeared to be wheezing inside his helmet. Like the same sound you make when an oxygen mask is placed on your mouth.

"You seem to breathing heavily, Lieutenant Fustaku." Otto spoke out of concern.

"Breathing heavily? Ah, that is just the annoying sound that the breathing apparatus inside this helmet. That is due to the pressure that's—"

"I get it, no need to go full on engineering junky in front of me. I shall send a report on your behalf that you've successfully sent the package to me." Otto turns around and waved a hand as he entered the embassy building leaving the three idiots wearing a pilot helmet and a 25 foot titan alone on the street.

"Hey, how come we had to come with you?" Etnaz asked as he placed a grappling hook around the Titan's shoulder.

"Yeah, we almost died coming here. And that asshole didn't even say thank you when you gave it to him." Cortez complained from the Titan's left shoulder.

Before reaching the Swiss Embassy, Lieutenant Fustaku had to slap Sel awake and order her to pilot the Titan to piggyback him and the other two Titanless pilots here. Sel was opposed by this at first but was then convinced when Fustaku said "I'll treat you once we come back."

Inside Sel's head a couple of ideas were appearing right there and then. Things like a bowl full of adobo, a high class restaurant and so much more. Fustaku felt a sudden chill on his spine when he raised his head towards the Titan's eye sensors.

With their deliver job over they need to get back before Engineer Holland decides to court martial them for using the Titan without proper authorization.

"So what now, LT?" Sel asked via the intercoms.

"We go back, via the same route that we just went through." Fustaku replied.

"But doesn't that just invite border patrols?" Sel asked further.

"I think the operator is correct but I do have a handy feature." VT-01 spoke with a deep coarse voice.

Fustaku turn around and stared at the VT-series titan in front of him. It was kneeling and the cockpit was open revealing Sel's figure sitting inside with a hand resting on her cheeks, her helmet removed.

"So what's this handy feature Venset?" Fustaku asked VT-01 nicknamed Venset.

Apparently the said titan had a built in AI on its _nervous system._ They didn't realize this until they entered the Swiss border. Everyone including the pilot inside Venset was surprised by the sudden turn of events that they actually stopped hallway from their journey and performed diagnostic tests using the terminal inside the cockpit.

According to Venset this was built in purpose so that coherency for the pilot in which he calls operator and titan is improved. He also explained that his other jobs include psychological reliefs, mission briefings for the pilot and lastly protecting the pilot at all cost.

Venset stood up from his former kneeling position and tapped his right shoulder where Etnaz is currently sitting. Immediately after that the Titan as well as the grunts sitting on his shoulders disappeared in thin air before reappearing again a few seconds later.

"I was fortunately built with a cloaking device incase if the operator decides to shut me down to do some infiltration missions or for a quick escape from a recent firefight." Venset explained.

Sel who was sitting inside the cockpit was actually impressed since she did not know that her titan actually had this handy feature.

"Operator I suggest you to read my manual at least once before being sent on the frontlines." Venset then paused and turned his attention to Fustaku who was raising his head. "That includes you too, Lieutenant."

"O-Okay…." Fustaku replied before climbing himself at the Titan's left shoulder where Cortez is sitting.

"Alright, hang on tight." Sel replied before grabbing her helmet and closing the cockpit. She then pressed the Auto-pilot mode of the titan on and ordered Venset to activate the cloaking device and retrace their steps back to the base.

Venset performed a ready position where both of his hands were resting on the ground and his hip was raised on a position slightly higher than the shoulders. His front knee on a 90 degree position and his rear knee on a 120 degree angle, after that he finally stood up and used his rear leg forwards and then followed by the other leg creating a momentum. His speed increased from 0 to 50 meters per second was increasing drastically by the second. The three unfortunate pilots bracing themselves outside of Venset's shoulders almost yelled in fear of falling off.

It was already 11 in the evening and the loud noise Venset made with his metallic feet was waking everyone up. This only increased Fustaku's fear of being caught by the police and jailed for crossing the Swiss border, eventually they finally arrived at the forest.

It took them around 20 minutes to finally enter the Austrian border where Austrian border guards are patrolling. Using Venset's cloaking feature they were able to bypass the guards without starting an alarm although foot prints were made on the soft ground making the Austrian border guards to scratch the back of their heads unable to explain how the foot print was made.

Around 12:22 a.m. they finally arrived at the base safely. Sel dismounted from the titan and ordered Venset to return to the armory and wait for further instructions.

"Operator I was not built to oppose my creator's questions. You must understand that I do not lie." Venset complained with his usual coarse tone.

"Just this once! Just lie like at least once for your pilot's sake, alright?!" Sel pleaded but Venset was not programmed with a handy sentence explaining how to lie efficiently.

Venset had his blue eye sensors blink twice which startled Sel who was hanging herself at Venset's head. After a few seconds Venset lowered his head enabling Sel to safely jump down.

"I will try my best, operator." Venset spoke before disappearing from their view.

With that said all they have to do now is to return to their quarters without anyone knowing what they did. Etnaz emerged out from the hallway leading to their quarters and spoke with a whisper.

"An Austrian guard is patrolling the hallway. What should we do?" He asked.

"Easy enough." Cortez spoke and vaulted through the window and neck locked the poor Austrian soldier. With his windpipe closed it was only a matter of time before the unfortunate soldier to be knocked cold.

Fustaku followed via the back door and saw Cortez neck locking the poor guy. He turned his head to the side knowing it was really unnecessary to be knocking out this poor guy. With the soldier unconscious they preceded pass the canteen that had civilian staff cleaning the floor until they reach their quarters. Etnaz was the one who opened the door, the lights were off and the other members of the platoon were already asleep. Etnaz gestured the others and told them to carefully walk towards their beds.

Tip-toeing towards his bed, Fustaku removed his helmet and placed it underneath his bed. He then untied the laces of his boots and placed them beside his helmet before finally, slowly leaning his back on his foamless bed.

A few meters away Sel accidently hit her boots on her metallic bed that almost woke Mountain up who was sleeping right beside her bed. Cortez heard this too and gestured Sel to keep it down.

After that close call Fustaku rested his arm on his forehead just like his former position before his stomach rumbled from hunger. Slowly he closed his eyes and let his tired body to do the rest.

Faintly, just faintly a voice called out to him. It was female's voice and it was calling his name.

~o~

"Kuya~"

No it was not his name but rather his job in his family. He heard it on a familiar voice and it was echoing inside his head like dome. Opening his eyes he somehow found himself wearing his pilot helmet and was wearing a peculiar attire. He had armor plating's attached on his torso, knee joints, shoulders and back.

His surroundings were burning. The tall mango trees were crumbling into ash and a single weeping little girl could be seen kneeling down on the ground. Despite the heavy rain the fire was nowhere near dissipating. Out of concern, Fustaku ran towards this little girl and rested his palm on the girl's left shoulder.

"Okay ka lang? Ahh, are you alright?" He asked.

The little girl nodded and slowly raised her head. With a smile of relief on his face, it immediately crumbled into fear as he saw the little girl's face. The little girl had a pale complexion and also had a short black hair that only reaches her shoulders. She was also wearing a one piece dress that had a white and yellow color scheme but was drenched in mud and water.

Fustaku immediately recognized this little girl. Of course who wouldn't recognize your very own sister at first glance?

However, both of her eye sockets were hollowed and her lips tainted with fresh blood. Her throat had a black shard sticking out of her skin, the side of her temple had a large crack too.

Fustaku trembled as he saw his sister's wellbeing. Finally his sister spoke this time with an ominous male's voice that he also recognized.

"Kailan ka babalik?" She asked.

It was a simple question yet it was hard to answer. Fustaku tried opening his lips but not a single word was uttered, he was shocked like his sense of speech was taken from him. Slowly his sister's head leaned to the side and a single white cloud exited her nostrils.

"Kate…" Fustaku called resting two fingers on his sister's neck.

No pulse.

She had no pulse.

"Kate…?" Fustaku called once more but receive no reply.

Tears were pouring out of his eyes that were covered by his helmet. He could hear his own wheezing breath as he pulled his sister's body closer to him. His hand trembled in pain as he tried answering that simple question of ' _when will you get back?'_ once more.

Not a word came out and by the time Fustaku opened his eyes once again his arms were covered already covered in ash. It was snowing…..no that is wrong. It was not snow but rather ash falling all over his body. His sister's body was nowhere to be seen and no matter how hard he tried calling her name he didn't get a reply, until.

Until he turned his attention in front of him—

Standing upright is a tall female's figure wearing a white one piece dress. She had long slender arms and a prominent white hair. She was peering down on him, her arms hanging on her side and red eyes staring down at him.

She also had these shards emerging out of her chin almost like a facemask covering her lips. Slowly the female raised her left hand and placed it at Fustaku's head. She caressed it for a second before she spoke with a deep voice.

"Welcome back." She said.

Immediately after that Fustaku's vision suddenly blurred. He suddenly lost control over his body and by the time the blur disappeared his vision was already upside down and he could see his body kneeling on the ground with its head missing.

Fustaku saw two white feet's blocking his view, two hands were placed right on his ears and by the time his vision was properly placed on a upright position the female's face was already the only thing he could see.

This female then forcibly pulled the black shards that were emerging out of her chin gushing out large amounts of dark red blood. Some of her blood even covered half of Fustaku's HUD.

With the shards removed Fustaku could barely see the female's lips. It had a red lipstick that was as red as the blood that exited her wounds. This female then opened her mouth wide, to the point where the edges of her lips slit open.

The distance then closed, and a mushing sound of meat being eaten was the only thing that left.

~o~

Fustaku opened his eyes again and saw multiple IV fluids attached on his right arm. The bright light that ceiling light emitted blinded him for a second before it finally cleared revealing that he had multiple bandages wrapped around his torso.

A male doctor was standing on his left and was writing something on the notepad. When he saw Fustaku regaining consciousness the doctor immediately took the periscope from his neck and placed it on Fustaku's chest.

The doctor appeared to be shouting but not a single sound could be heard. A man wearing the same uniform as his entered the room and appeared to be yelling at the doctor as well before finally disappearing from his view.

This man returned with a bucket on his hands filled with bright light green fluid that almost resembles slime. The soldier paused before throwing the contents out of the bucket and into Fustaku's body.

Fustaku for a second felt that his body suddenly felt light and he could finally move his fingers a bit. His sense of hearing was also regaining, the soldier was telling him something but he still could not make out what the soldier was saying.

Finally his blurry vision cleared and he finally saw who this soldier was. It was Lomo, he let out a light sigh and distanced himself from Fustaku's face and spoke once more.

"Can you hear me now?" Lomo shouted at Fustaku's ears.

The shout produced a ringing sound on his ear but it slowly subsided that his ears finally decided to do their job which is processing air vibrations into words.

"Yeah I can hear you. No need to bloody shout that close." Fustaku tried raising his body only to be stopped by a heavy hand.

"No need to be hasty." Lomo said as he slowly pushed Fustaku back at the drenched bed.

"You saying that is already giving me ideas." Fustaku replied.

The doctor only nodded and exited the room after Lomo nodded at him. Sighing Lomo sat on the opposite side of the room and raised a hand at Fustaku.

"Well aren't you going to ask?" Lomo said with a carefree tone.

"Why am I covered in bandages?"

Lomo paused and placed a finger outside the window. He tapped it twice before finally answering the question.

"We just won the war." He said.

"What?" Fustaku immediately uttered, unable to process the words that suddenly threw at him.

Lomo could only smile cheekily as he saw his commanding officer's shocked expression. He had one hand covering his mouth to stop his laugh from escaping his lips.

"What?!" Fustaku urged for an answer.

"Nah just messing with you, apparently abyssal bombers arrived earlier this morning. They swooped in without the radar arrays detecting them. By the time the alarm was fired the bombs were already dropped and the first ones that took the first hit were our platoon quarters."

"We were hit directly?"

"Nah the bombs missed like 200 meters. But the shockwave though was enough to destroy our quarters. Luckily no one was gravely injured and after putting some first aid and a distress call to Akashi requesting six barrels full of healing compound, everyone is on perfect shape."

"Thank goodness." Fustaku rested a palm on his forehead as he realized that they almost died without them even knowing.

Lomo then stood up from his chair and placed a soot covered boots on Fustaku's bed. The boots were burned to crisp and large slits could be seen on the cover and the soles. Fustaku's eyes immediately widens as he realized whose boots this was.

"Well, it seems that your boots didn't make it." Lomo said jokingly.

"My….my Merkana boots…." Fustaku wept.

Tears were pouring out of Fustaku's eyes as he grabbed the boots with both of his hands. When he exerted force on burnt leather part of his Merkana boots his thumb immediately bore through like the boots were made of paper. By that time Lomo could not stand looking at his commanding officer weeping over an old pair of boots like it was his wife.

"When you finally decided that it's enough, go immediately towards the armory. Your titan just recently arrived and Engineer Holland wouldn't shut up about you missing Titan training." Lomo spoke lethargically as he turns the knob of the door sideways. With the door opened Lomo immediately walked out, not a single word ever uttered again.

Just as he was about to walk towards the canteen he was stopped by the curious looks of his subordinates who was waiting outside the room.

"So? Is he alright?" Zera was the first one to ask.

"Yes, he is just weeping over his burnt boots right now so no need to worry. Anyway we should head to the canteen and take our breakfast. I've been dying to take a bite after cleaning up the destroyed quarters as well as carrying his bloodied body at the surgery room.

Fustaku wasn't the only one wounded by the sudden attack this morning. Others like Zera, Val, Zeno, Ursa and Mountain had their uniforms torn open like a beggar found at the streets.

"I suggest that we should take a visit to the armory first and ask for a new pair of uniforms before we take our breakfasts." Zeno was scratching his shoulder.

Lomo lowered his gaze and saw his own uniform full of holes and slits. He let out a sigh and nodded at Zeno.

"Alright, gather up the others. We need to change suits."

~o~

It took twenty minutes of weeping before Fustaku finally stopped and decided to walk out of the room. It took him a while to remove the bandages that were wrapped around his body like a mummy. He opened the door and walked outside to be lightly blinded by the natural luminescent.

The base was a mess, large craters could be seen then and there and the hallway leading to the exit had three meter holes on the walls and ceiling. Some maintenance personnel were already doing some work to repair them but it will definitely take some time for them to properly fix every destroyed part of this building.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Fustaku saw small transport trucks waiting right outside the armory. Soldiers were carrying boxes containing who knows what, inside the armory. Fustaku walked towards a man standing near the trucks and tapped his shoulder.

"What's with the package?" He asked.

The soldier turns around and looked at Fustaku's state. Leftover bandages here and there, large slits on the shoulders and a couple of holes on his uniform. Not to mention that he was not wearing any boots.

"What's it with you?" The soldier asked in English.

Fustaku could feel his palms stiffing a bit from that sudden rebuke. Not wanting to fight a foreign man over a simple question Fustaku decided that it was not worth wasting his time from talking with this asshole and walked straight to the armory door.

"Ah look who decided to show up." Rem greeted him with a loud voice prompting the other soldiers that was near him to turn their attention towards him.

"Shut-up, where's Lomo?" Fustaku asked.

"He's inside the changing room right now together with the other soldiers of 1st squad." Rem explained as he tied the laces of his new boots.

Mountain walked beside Fustaku and gave him a small sheet of paper and said "LT, use this. Lomo already prepared a replacement sheet for you. You should go to that guy over there and ask him for a new pair of clothes. Anyway, we'll be waiting at the canteen after this so see you there." He then walked towards the armory exit together with the rest of 2nd squad.

Left alone Fustaku walked towards the man behind the counter that Mountain was pointing and nodded at him. The man nodded back and lend an ear at Fustaku.

"I was told to give this to you." Fustaku placed the paper on the wooden counter.

"Ah, you also part of the soldiers that were sent here from Japan? You guys been through a lot since your arrival here." He said with a laugh.

"Yes I am part of that group of soldiers that were sent here from Japan. In fact I am actually the commanding officer of that unfortunate group." Fustaku said with a palm resting on his face.

"Ah, is that so? It seems the boundary that separates a commanding officer and a subordinate is slowly being erased. Anyway since you are a Titan pilot, I will be giving you these pair instead."

Wrapped in plastic is a black uniform that didn't had any patches on the shoulders. It was just a plane black uniform that you would regularly see on shopping malls and that could be bought for 20 dollars.

"The standard uniform for you titan pilots. Don't judge it by its common and simple looks. This uniform is specifically made to counter the extreme G's that you would experience when you are inside the cockpit. It looks loose right now but when you insert the nervous system cord on your helmet this uniform would immediately shrink tight close to your skin." The man spoke with boisterous tone.

Fustaku took the plastic bag containing the uniform but was stopped by the man behind the counter. The man then raised a finger saying "Wait there's more." Before kneeling down under the counter and revealed a large brown bag on the table.

"This one contains your new vest that carries your StA 409 magazines as well as other things that will help you during the heat of battle. These here are lightweight armor plating's for your vest. These should stop a 7.62mm projectile from penetrating through but be careful though since these plating's aren't shock dissipaters so if ever you are shot, you will still feel the brunt of the kinetic energy." The man added.

"I'll take note of it." Fustaku nodded and took the bag from the wooden counter.

Fustaku could feel the bag pulling him down to the ground from the weight of the things that were stuffed inside this bag. Turning around the man pointed his fingers at the other hallway leading to the changing room. He followed his direction and found himself staring at the changing room entrance. Using his left hand he pressed his hand on the knob and opened it.

"Hmm? Ah I forgot to lock the door." Sel spoke with a less surprised tone.

Wearing the same black uniform minus the upper uniform Sel gave Fustaku a raised brow and a bare chest.

"Lomo and the others have already gone to the canteen to take their breakfasts. We should hurry up and change or else they might not leave any left overs." Sel took her black bra from the bench and fastens it from the back.

"I wouldn't want to eat left overs." Fustaku replied and tore open the plastic bag.

Using his left hand he unfastens the buttons of his upper uniform while the other hand removing the bandages that were keeping his battered uniform from falling off.

"Engineer Holland also said that after breakfast-- Etnaz, Cortez and you are going to take Pilot lessons for today." Sel took a gray shirt from the plastic bag and wore it. The gray shirt was bulging a bit at the chest promoting her prominent chest.

"Dammit I forgot about that. I just hope that we are taking a thorough lesson and not a hasty one." Fustaku replied with a sigh as he finally fastens the zipper of his new upper uniform.

"Well piloting the titan is really not that hard when you think about it. Just imagine the insides of a car that had two joy sticks and not a steering wheel."

"Doesn't that sound even more difficult?" Fustaku retorted.

Using a rubber band Sel tied her hair into a ponytail and took the same bag containing the vest and armor plating's for the said vest.

"Anyway, I'll be going first since I still need to finish my remaining tasks."

Sel placed her hand on the doorknob, opened it and walked outside leaving Fustaku alone inside the changing room. Faint sounds of zippers closing and laces swishing were the only things that were left inside the room and before long Fustaku finally finished changing his uniform.

"That should do." Fustaku muttered as he grabbed the brown bag containing his other necessities.

His stomach rumbled faintly before he could open the door. Resting a palm on his stomach Fustaku let out a sigh and walked outside. Direction? Canteen.

~o~

The canteen was half empty with his soldiers the only ones inside talking to each other. A couple of laughs and yells here and there and before long Fustaku was now part of that noisy group. There was an empty seat at the middle, Fustaku headed there and sat down the others saying "Ah, LT's here." at him.

"LT, here's your share." Sgt. Jason Borromeo who was sitting in front of him dragged a silver plate towards him.

It was a typical breakfast of two sausages, loaf bread, no rice, and cold soup. Fustaku took the spoon and took a sip with the soup first, immediately making a displeased expression.

"Cold or not it's still soup, LT." Vas who was sitting on Fustaku's right spoke with a spoon sitting in his mouth.

"It's not about the temperature."

"Then what? The taste?" Vas asked.

"It's the taste…..they put too much salt in these." Fustaku replied as he took the sausage from his plate and thinly sliced it with his spoon and placed it at the loaf.

The others beside him sighed simultaneously. Fustaku actually didn't say anything during their arrival at the base. Breakfast, lunch and dinner they were all the same it was as if there was only one menu throughout the day. The soup—the soup too was so salty that you would immediately yell _this is not a soup!_ Out loud. But, this is the case since the soup's temperature is already cold, spoiling the original taste if it was hot.

"I wonder what Kilogram is doing right now." Mountain muttered as he stared at the white ceiling.

Sequentially the others were starting at the ceiling as well not knowing the reason why they were staring at it until someone finally decided asked a question.

"So what's on the ceiling?" It was Pura who was sitting at the edge of the table.

Nobody answered. They only simultaneously lowered their heads toward their plates and resumed eating.

"He is probably sleeping on a comfy bed right now." Sel replied as she stuffed a sausage on her mouth.

"Talking to some beautiful Japanese nurses." Mop uttered his opinion

"Or even talking to some cute shipgirls." Urasa added his own opinion.

"He could be being punished right now by Admiral Goto since he did not join us here even though he was already given a discharge notice." Lomo replied as he dropped his fork.

"Let's hope that is the case." Fustaku finally ended the topic.

Everyone except Lomo nodded before they resumed eating their breakfast. The mood suddenly fell silent without anyone retorting about it. Then someone suddenly paused from eating. It was Mop, who was sitting in front of Ursa. He's eyes were wide open and his fingers trembling faintly.

"What's wrong?" Ursa asked while a loaf was stuffed on his mouth.

"You hear that?" Mop replied his voice a bit coarse.

Ursa turned an eye at Cortez but Cortez only replied with a turning head. So Ursa turned her attention again at Mop who was still frozen still.

"Hear what?" Ursa asked.

"A whistling sound…." Mop replied.

When Fustaku heard what Mop described he faintly heard a whistling noise. Slamming his hand on the table made of steel he then yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Get down!"

Followed by a loud explosion destroying the white ceiling into smaller pieces. The whistling sound was audible and it was not a normal whistling sound, it was the whistle of death. The whistling sound when a bomb is falling on you.

"Out! Everyone get the fuck out of the building!" Fustaku yelled as he crawled out of the steel table. "Lomo, Etnaz, Borromeo get your squadrons to the armory and gear up!" Fustaku issued his orders.

Lomo nodded and pulled the still shocked soldiers of his squadron out of steel table that protected them from debris. As he did that Lomo raised his head to the ceiling and saw a black glowing bomb that was five meters long. It did not reach the ground. It was hanging, entangled by thick cables from the ceiling.

"Sel, I need you to find your Titan and provide anti-air fire for the troops on the ground." Fustaku stopped Sel from running after with the rest of her squadron.

"Got it!" Sel replied opening the bag that she was carrying revealing the vest and armor plating's that was inside.

Fustaku also did his preparations and wore his vest and armor plating's. He was still unarmed and his helmet is nowhere to be seen.

The echoing sounds of explosions were erupting everywhere. It was an air raid and they need the help of the fighters on the ground as well as the Titan's on standby to provide anti-air fire.

"LT, I will be going first!" Sel ran out of the canteen with her vest and armor plating's attached.

After a few seconds he was also finished as well and ran towards the armory where the rest of his platoon was ordered to go. Just as the man behind the counter said the armor plating's were light it was as if he was just wearing Kevlar. Although he had magazines for his StA 409 on his vest he was still unarmed so he ran as fast as he could, passing by some unconscious soldiers on the hallway.

"LT!" Val ran passed him and threw a StA 409 at his direction.

Fustaku catches the rifle and pushes the loading mechanism of the rifle as he ran after his soldiers who were taking cover behind a pile of sandbags.

"Where did they come from?!" Vas yelled as he loaded his rifle.

"I don't know just fire!" Val replied.

"Fire what?"

"Fire at everything that flies!" Mountain connected.

Like a bunch of bird hunters in the wilds they were firing their rifles at the sky with no one actually hitting something. Lomo was shouting at a radio and when Fustaku crouched beside him Lomo immediately gave him the radio.

"It's headquarters. They are saying that a walking airfield type was spotted behind river Inn!"

"How?! How did a Ku-type walk pass the Europa Line?!"

"I don't know that is what headquarters are saying!" Lomo replied as he simultaneously ducked down when a bomb fell near their position.

When they raised their head Cortez jumped in wearing his helmet and armor plating's. He then took a similar helmet from his belt that was hangingon his belt and gave it to Fustaku.

"You left your wife battered and bruised." Cortez said with a long exhale.

Using his dominant hand Fustaku took the battered looking helmet and inserted his head inside. Pressing the button on his right temple his HUD lit up and the calibration's system began.

"Operator? What is your currently position?" A deep male's voice then came to his ears.

"Who is this?" Fustaku demanded.

"I am VT-04 the forth titan of the VT-series that designed by Engineer Hans Holland and manufactured by Steyr Armory." The titan replied.

The calibrations finished and the HUD was now clear from static and a small map could be seen at the lower left of this HUD.

"I thought we aren't getting our Titan's for at least a week?" Fustaku said confused.

"Apparently I was chosen to be overhauled first. I've already found your coordinates so hang tight." VT-04 spoke with a monotonous tone.

A sharp sound of concrete and steel breaking echoed inside his helmet as he raised his head amidst from the bombing and saw a 25 foot titan painted in light brown and black dashing like a mad boar but made of steel and armor.

Its 120mm cannon attached at its back and its destination towards the small hole filled of soldiers from a foreign land. But together with those soldiers is his pilot, the pilot he was designed to protect and the pilot that was trained to control him.

VT-04's sensors popped up and saw ten white abyssal drones carrying deep penetrating bombs that were said to be designed to destroy an emplacement by burrowing the bomb from underneath.

Increasing the speed of his movements VT-04 arrived in front of the sandbags and swung its main armament, pulled a drum magazine from his ammo rack and placed it on the autocannon's feeding mechanism and all that's left for the autocannon to spit fire was a strong pull on the trigger.

"Operator?" VT-04 said, turning his attention to the so called pilot that he was tasked on protecting. "Your orders?" He asked.

"What the hell are you waiting for?! Fire!" Fustaku yelled from the ground.

With a deep muffled _zoom_ VT-04 traced his FCS and locked on the group of drones and fired the autocannon.

Green tracers raced on the sky each bullet scored a direct hit, erasing the group of ten drones with every round. Another group appeared and the process was repeated again and again and again until two drum magazines were exhausted.

"Lieutenant Fustaku, are you there?!" Another male's voice echoed in his helmet.

A video feed appeared revealing the owner of the said voice that called. It was Engineer Holland wearing a Kevlar helmet and a protective vest.

"Engineer Holland, are you safe?!" Fustaku yelled back.

"Aye, we are currently taking cover underground and into the commands center. I will be issuing orders from here is that clear?" Engineer Holland asked.

"Understood."

"Right, I've already activated VT-04 for you to pilot has the titan already linked up with you?"

"Yes, the pilot is safe." VT-04 interjected via another static video feed.

"Good. There are only two titans currently activated that is Cpl. Romanov's titan VT-01 and yours VT-04. I want the two of you to link up and head to River Inn and destroy that Ku-type at all cost. That excludes those men that don't have titans. This is a pilot specified mission so don't bring any liabilities that will hinder mission success do you hear me?" Engineer Holland paused his voice was stern and cold but it was of a reason.

River Inn is located around four kilometers from the base and behind the tall mountains that surrounded Austria and to reach there they need a chopper or a jeep to carry his platoon. It would take some time for them to find a working chopper or hauling themselves inside a jeep. And by the time they were able to do that those abyssal drones would've already evaporated them.

"I understand." Fustaku knew the problems that he has to take if he was to bring all of his soldiers to the opposite side of the mountain.

"Alright, I've already contacted Sel to wait for you at the maintenance area just below the armory. From there she will tell you how you are going to reach River Inn." Engineer Holland explained.

"Why not now? Can't you just explain it like right now?"

"I have other things to do so Sel would have to do the debriefing. With that said, godspeed 2nd Lieutenant." Engineer Holland ended the transmission.

Clicking his tongue Fustaku turned his attention to the men around him. They were giving him an uncertain expression of waiting for their commanding officer's words.

"Apparently I'm being sent behind that mountain." Fustaku said with a sigh.

"Where's the _we_ in that?" Lomo asked.

"I specifically said _I_ not _we_. There's a large difference between the two. Anyway, Lomo take command of the platoon and hold the base from the abyssal drones." Fustaku stood up and vaulted himself out of cover.

"And how are we supposed hold the base from abyssal planes?!" Zera popped his head out and asked in a yell.

Fustaku stood halfway before being picked up by his titan. Opening the upper chassis that protected the cockpit, VT-04 thwn placed Fustaku in there like a glove.

"The old fashion way" Fustaku replied before the cockpit closed and VT-04 ran towards the armory.

Zera stood there confused at what his commanding officer just said. He took a glance at Etnaz who was also a titan pilot minus the titan part. Etnaz turned his head to the sides gesturing him that he doesn't know.

"It means shooting the drones with your rifles, terrific." Lomo was the one who answered and replaced his depleted drum magazine of his rifle.

~o~

Being a maintenance officer is not an easy work. One, you have to make a thorough schedule on what to do for this day, hour or week. Two, you must have the adequate knowledge on how to perform certain tasks that a normal maintenance worker is unable to do, that is why there is an _officer_ on the job title. In terms of salary you have a two percent increase in income as well as a hierarchal respect from your subordinates.

The downsides however unbalance things. First, whenever you make a bad decision the higher up's will immediately take notice and will summon you to the meeting room where you will be interrogated why you did that _bad decision_ and what was the purpose of it. Second, you are always on the maintenance area 24/7 and you can only get a one hour nap for every 12 hours.

"What in the Bloody Mary are you doing?! Lift the spring now or else the titan won't be launched at an even angle!"

A man wearing blue working attire with oil and grease painted on his trousers shouted at the top of his lungs. He was wearing a white ceramic helmet that would protect him from falling objects as well as protecting him from other means that would harm his head. On his torso and lower body though, well let's just say that there is only cloth there to cover his limbs and manhood.

"I am sorry Engineer Jacob but the springs aren't strong enough to sustain such tension to raise the elevator. If we force the springs to lift even further we could have a major catastrophe on our hands!" A maintenance worker shouted from the control room via radio attached on his chest.

Engineer Jacob pinches his nose as hard as he could to try and nullify the anger that's been boiling deep inside him. After letting out a calming sigh he raised his head once again and pressed the transmission button of his radio.

"If you don't lift that spring for another 5 degrees I will fire you!" Engineer Jacob yelled.

Immediately after that the springs that were attached on the elevator of the electrical-hydraulics launcher elevated five degrees vertically. After that another worker near the launching pad gave a _thumb's up_ and Engineer Holland nodded from the catwalk that was adjacent to the launching pad.

"Good, now where are the titans?" Engineer Holland asked Engineer Jacob via radio.

"VT-01 has already arrived and is currently waiting for launch. VT-04 however—"

"He still hasn't arrived yet?" Engineer Holland interjected.

"Yes." Engineer Jacob replied with a side glance.

The bulges of Engineer Holland temples increases prompting Engineer Jacob to turn off his radio before the lead engineer could shout at maximum volume on close range. Letting out another sigh Engineer Jacob turned his attention to the echoing rumble inside the maintenance area.

A 25 foot titan emerged from the shaft elevator suddenly tumbled down to the ground. Engineer Jacob could only make a tired expression as he realizes that the man inside the titan can't even control his titan.

"Engineer Holland, VT-04 has arrived with a large impact crater on the ground." He said via radio.

"Just fill it up later with cement later! Get that titan on the launching pad and start the sequence. Top side is being bombed to bits and there are no signs of it stopping until we destroy that Ku-type!"

Engineer Jacob pressed the frequency channel button of his radio and increased it by one hertz. This enables him to talk directly to the pilot inside the titan. With a calm tone he asked the pilot first.

"Pilot, do you hear me?"

There was static at first but then it faded and a clear male's voice replied. He sounded a bit like Darth Vader at the first ten seconds until VT-04 fixed the transmission feed. The connection was cleared from any chatter and an Asian male's voice spoke once again.

"Yup I hear you." Pilot 04 replied.

"Good. Now I want you to enter the launching pod on your left and await further instructions."

"Okay."

VT-04 moved to the left like a moving mannequin and slams its upperbody on a steel pillar, luckily the pillar didn't fall down from the impact and the other maintenance workers let out a sigh of relief as well as a raised middle finger for scaring them.

"Operator, let me handle the controls while you read the manual that I have purposely prepared for you to read." VT-04's voice exited from Engineer Jacob's radio.

"What does that supposed to mean?! I can pilot you, you know?! I don't need a manual that only makes me confused." Pilot 04 replied with a yell.

"You haven't piloted a titan before and haven't undergone pilot training before. I suggest you to read the manual first before you actually try and control me." VT-04 replied.

After VT-04 said that his static body that was resting on the steel pillar moved fluidly and slowly entered the launching pod.

Engineer Jacob could still hear Pilot 04's complains on the radio but he didn't take mind of it since it will only give him headaches.

"Good. Begin launching sequence!" Engineer Jacob said with a yell on the radio.

The ten second launching sequence begins. Maintenance workers ranging from wire fixing jobs to hydraulics replacement jobs ran towards nearby cover with their tools hanging on their belt. One guy in particular who was controlling the main crane actually threw a rope from the window of his crane and performed a vertical slide like how rangers would dismount a Blackhawk using a thick rope.

Engineer Jacob also did his own preparations like attaching a life line on the catwalk and a blast proof headset to protect him from deafening sounds.

The timer entered its last batch of single digit numbers, and then a male's voice echoed out of Engineer Jacob's radio. With the blast proof headset on his ears he was unable to hear what was uttered.

"VT-04 why is there a warning sign saying that eminent 20G's approaching on my HUD?"

"Operator, please shut your mouth or you might bit your off tongue."

The sequence ended and the launching pod was launched into the air at a speed of 1500 meters per second. Smoke and strong shockwaves blasted the maintenance area into smithereens but thanks to the bunkers placed at the four corners of the area they were able to seek cover before they were minced meat.

The smoke dissipates and the only thing left on the underground maintenance area that was erected underneath the armory area were broken machinery, a broken crane, two broken springs, a broken elevator shaft, and a broken launch pad.

"Alright, pick up the tools and equipment's that are still useful. Also bring a cement maker while you're at it we need to cover up that crater!" Engineer Jacob shouted at the radio.

~o~

Despite being placed on a spacious place a voice could be heard howling along the empty corridors of a place called Subway 13.

It was a child's voice, it could be a boy or a girl but due to the fact that the child was still six years old the voice was indistinguishable.

The child was leaning its body on a bloodied corridor that used to be packed full of busy civilians to reach the subway platform. Now it was packed full of blood and muscle. No one is distinguishable not even the hair or skin.

Was it human or just a mere thing that assumes that it's human? Either way the child was staring at it with cold eyes. The child's blue eyes were staring at the flesh in front of is crowed body like it was something new.

"London Bridge is falling down….Falling down, falling down."

The child sang a nursery song. The child sang it without a tone or a rhythm. The sentence was flat and simple.

"London Bridge is falling down….Falling down, falling down."

The child repeated the sentence yet again with the same flat tone and rhythm. Simultaneously a strong rumble shook the ground.


	27. 不注意

**不注意**

It seems funny at first but when it starts to get serious, you just can't smile over it. What is? You might ask. Well to be blunt, dying is, or to be more relatable for the current story—sinking.

The cold ocean water that I _used_ to love is now currently surrounding me like a blanket. A couple of flashes here and there from the surface that seems to be refracted by the salty water, or is it the light being refracted by the water and not the flashes itself? It doesn't matter, I am just a normal girl after all that was tasked to protect my country from things that endanger my countrymen…my partner is more fond of this than me since he's an engineering geek he even called me a _short-tempered-turkey_.

Really why is he calling me a short-tempered-turkey when I am not even a turkey? I am a girl you see, if you call me that way wouldn't that just mean that you are going out with a turkey? Doesn't that make you look like a weirdo to your men?

Ah, pointless things to be considered. Why am I thinking such things? Things that doesn't have a slightest relevance to my life—such small things, why am I blathering over them?

As I turned my eyes to the side I saw a broken bow. It was just a normal bow that you would use during archery practice or during wartime. Bows during wartime? What am I living the Feudal time of Japan?

….

I heard a creaking sound. It was loud; I haven't heard something like it and it was growing louder and louder when I saw that very same bow rising towards the surface. That's odd since when did bows produce sounds like that when submerged?

After that I heard static, radio static to be specific. Radios? Ah yes, we have those you know?! My admiral calls them _intercoms_ for some reason and whenever I would urge him to answer why it was named that way he would just chuckle and raised a hand towards me. I felt pissed this one time that I actually ordered a squadron of bombers to bomb his office during the night. Yeah, it was wrecked to pieces but Kaga also bombarded my room a day later when she found out that it was me. Damn that Akizuki, why did she have to tell her about that..?

No, I do not own a room. Well technically it's not my room but _our_ room. Yes, I share that room together with my sister.

Sister,

Sister,

Sister?

What was her name again?

I couldn't remember her name for some odd reason. But I do remember her physical features that I can assure you. She had white-silver hair that reaches her lower back…Hmm, maybe it was not around the lower back but around the pelvis? Anyway, she also had long slender arms, a prominent chest and a bright smile. She always gives me this smile whenever I messed up on something or to cheer me up, and that silver hair, how I wished to have the same hair as hers.

I mean we are supposed to be sisters but why do I have grayish-green hair? I can't even tell what my hair color's name is. Seriously even Akashi refused to tell me what the name of my hair color is. I seriously despise this hair color, I really do.

But—

I can't since someone else love this hair color.

As the white bright globe fades into nothingness I saw this red fluid floating pass my view. I tried clenching it using my dominant hand but it only deforms so I stopped the thought of holding it. I can't even feel _it_ using with sense of touch.

….

Blood…..

I'm bleeding?

I lowered my head and saw my stomach sporting a large hole around four inches wide. It penetrated my metal chest guard like it was nothing and I could see the insides of my body like it was grotesquely cut using a dull blade.

 _After all you still have me here waiting for you_.

I've heard that phrase before. Who was the one who said it again? Yeah, I remember that phrase. It was said with a female's voice and it revolved around a man giving his partner a _satellite phone_ that she doesn't know how to operate.

"Ermest,"

I know that name too.

It's the name of my partner….

"Ermest Fustaku…." I repeated once more, "Fustaku, Fu s taku? To suffer? Is that how you translate it natively?" I asked myself knowing that no one would answer me anyway.

….

Suddenly I saw his face again. The same boring face that I always see whenever he walks outside the shipgirl dormitory or the naval base itself. What was his job again? Why is he loitering around the naval base again? Isn't he supposed to be an army soldier that is not supposed to be walking inside in the naval base since the Admiral said so?

"I should ask him when I _come back._ "

…..


	28. Do your Job

**Do your job**

My name is I-1 also called Ichi by my friends but since you are not my friend then you will designate me as I-1 until I say so. Are we clear? Good. I am the first of the Type J1 class submarines which was also called I-1 class type submarines; I am number one of the four submarines ever built. I have three sisters namely, I-2, I-3, and lastly I-4. I may be a submarine but I also pack eight 533mm torpedo tubes (6 forward, 2 aft), 20 type 95 oxygen-driven torpedoes and two 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval guns at the fore and aft. Because of this we were called by some idiots in the navy as cruiser submarines, fuckers.

Now where should I begin? Since I have already given my introduction should I end it here and call it a day?

Okay?

What do you mean okay? Don't you want to hear more about the things that I could share to you? Isn't the title of the story entitled Do your job, as in when your pissed boss or office colleague said Do your job! When you mess up?

If that bores you then go away I won't be quelling about it…

Why are you still reading? I said go away!

Why are you still here?

Dammit, it looks like I have to start the story now.

~o~

Do you know how scary the depth of the sea is? Of course you wouldn't, my bet is that you haven't even tried diving 80 meters below sea level. For those who like to know the imperial unit that is 260 feet below sea level. Imagine yourself drifting underneath the heavy waves of the Pacific Ocean. Whether the ocean color is blue, green, or red if you are unfortunate enough, you would feel this annoying sense of dread or by borrowing it's commonly known synonym for those readers whose English it not its primary language and don't want to check the dictionary because it's annoying, dread is a synonym with fear.

Mesopelagic that is what those science geeks out there call it. It is a deep sea zone where the light is gradually dimmed as you dive deeper, in which fortunately for me I cannot venture because of my diving limit. But I knew some submarine-type shipgirls around the world that are even capable of diving even deeper.

And I am not just talking about the Mesopelagic Zone, oh no, I am talking about the Bathypelagic zone. The zone where light is just a mere dot on the surface, I wonder what it's like to be working there? Well they may not be armed just like us but certainly they are still one of the bravest out there. Bravest shipgirl that I knew that are willing to dive deeper into abyssal territory.

At 4,000 meters or 13,000 Feet, we now enter Abyssal territory, the Abyssopelagic Zone. Imagine a place where you are being crushed by strong water pressure 24/7 and not a single light source to help you see. Isn't that scary?

Yeah, those were the words uttered by the sole survivor of the Abyss Expedition Fleet, DSV Alvin, a manned deep-ocean research submersible shipgirl from the United States Navy. Included in that fleet were three other deep-ocean shipgirls whose names I cannot recall anymore.

Alvin talked about large abyssal monsters that had the same size as a sperm whale and that it immediately ate one of her colleagues when they suddenly decided to turn on their underwater front lights.

Now you might be asking. Why am I talking about deep water zones when we are here to know what happen to the unfortunate shipgirl that sank a chapter ago?

Now slow down my little ones, I am just filling you up bit by bit so that you wouldn't be shocked like WTF why are you there again? What is the Mesopelagic Zone? The Abyss Region?!

Okay you get it. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, the rescue mission regarding the unfortunate shipgirl that was one-shoted by an abyssal princess.

Despite being a submarine which was primarily tasked on intercepting enemy abyssal convoys, submarines too have a secondary role during major sorties. One of which is shipgirl recovery missions or SRM. You might be asking, I-1-chan what is a SRM?

Well just like its name suggests, we are tasked on recovering sunken shipgirls from a recent sortie or major operation. It's a straight forward job really. Sail to the previous location where the sunken shipgirl was last reported to be spotted, Dive at maximum speed to reach the shipgirl in time before her body reaches the sea bed. We don't know what really happens to a shipgirl once they reach the sea bed since we basically do our jobs properly and not a single shipgirl that was reportedly sunk at battle was unrecovered.

But not all things were meant to be sugar coated for long. 2nd Lt. Ermest Fustaku's report about Atago turned into an abyssal like thing was already making other shipgirls edgy from their seats. There was this one time when almost all of the newly summoned shipgirls refused to sortie because of Atago's situation, although, Atago was somehow recovered back by her older sister, Takao.

"Ichi….I found her." A female's voice resounded on my sonar.

It startled me at first since I was currently observing the current surface battle between the remnants of Shoukaku's fleet and an enemy combined fleet that had an angered Wo-class carrier as its flagship.

"Use normal means of communications please, do that again and I'll torpedo you myself I-4." I replied with gritting teeth via underwater intercoms.

"Calm down, one-san. Anyway, we already recovered her although parts of her body has already paled a bit and—"I-4, my little sister, paused suddenly.

"And?" I urged her to continue.

"You got to look at it for yourself." I-4 replied.

Out of curiosity I hurriedly dived down and grabbed my sonar phone from my swimsuit pocket and saw two blue dots currently motionless at sectors A-50. At cruising speed I headed there and saw my two sisters holding Zuikaku-san's corpse.

A large hole could be seen at her stomach that grotesquely tore through her chest armor like it was nothing and her greenish-gray eyes were already blank staring at nowhere.

"No pulse." I-3 replied moving away from Zuikaku-san's body.

"Damn, she's heavy." I-4 replied with an annoyed tone.

I also sailed towards her and did some curious touches as well. Her skin was cold as ice, the tips of her fingernails were already purple from the cold and her lips were so rugged that you could see bite marks at the lower lip.

"She must've suppressed the pain by biting her own lower lip." I said to I-4 coldly.

"Is that even a good remedy? We should stop talking over this like this is a normal day's work. We should head back to Saipan and hope for a repair bucket there." I-3 added, urging I-4 to move already.

Suddenly our recovery radar lit up like wildfire. It did not startle us though since we already knew what this meant.

"Another shipgirl has sunk." I said to I-3.

I-3 let out a tired nudge to the side and stared at the recovery radar on her hand. She pointed her finger westward, urging me to intercept there. But I had different plans for today.

"No," I said to her, "You go there, I'll deliver Zuikaku-san's body to Saipan. Since SRF-2 is currently sortied on the northern side of things and SRF-3 on the south, the west is still on our jurisdiction." I added whilst at the same time grabbing Zuikaku-san's body away from my sister.

I-3 gave me an annoyed pout before sailing ahead of me. Feeling the weight on the shoulders suddenly increased, I urged myself to start retreating before Abyssal destroyers intercept me.

Unfortunately this is where I will be ending my narration since another shipgirl will be narrating the next part of this 15,000 word chapter. Don't worry though. You will be hearing more from me in the near future.

For now, see you next time.

Also thank you for listening!

~o~

It's so excruciating.

What is? You might ask.

Well, it's about the bloody ceiling light.

I do not know when and where am I as of now. The only thing that I could come up with is that I Zuikaku, second ship of the Shoukaku-class armored carriers, fainted or something along those lines and got myself relocated in a place called Saipan where IV fluids that had light green color are attached on my right arm.

If you ask me why I was able to identify my current location was it's thanks to that long welcoming sign placed at the opposite wall saying with bold italic words Welcome to Saipan.

"What in a world happened?" I asked myself whilst resting my left arm on my aching head.

By that time, I somehow realized that I am not currently utilizing both of my eyes. One was covered by bandage, based on the surface texture if you ask me how I manage to identify it.

I tried raising my head but failed to do so when I realized that a soft belt was wrapped around my forehead, locking me in place on the soft bed. Using my left hand I was able to unbuckle it and freed myself from the restraint. I could hear my hair rustling a bit when I tried raising my upper body on an upright position.

Gently passing over my right, my grayish-green hair entered my view. Using my left hand I examined it. Same despised color but different in hair length.

Yes, somehow without me even noticing my hair suddenly increased in length from my shoulder blades to my lower back. You might say that it's just a mere three inches of additional hair but for me that is actually not good, considering that because of my hair color I tend to feel discomforted by the absorbed heat. Also with the sudden increase of hair length it looks like I may have to change hairstyle now.

As I tried pulling my hair forward I realized that my hair color is not actually the same as before. It's lighter in contrast than the last one which was a bit tad more green than gray. Now, you could say that my hair color now is grayer than green. In simple terms the green part of the grayish-green color phrase is almost nonexistent.

Using my fingers as a makeshift comb I tried straightening my hair. White flakes here and there were piling up on my fingernails, are these dandruff? I actually had dandruff this whole time?!

But the more I examine the white flakes, the more the 'I actually had dandruff?! 'Phrase was becoming incorrect. These flakes aren't dandruff at least they don't smell like it, also there aren't any holes on them either. Usually when you pick dandruff off your hair and if you look closely on it, you would see small holes on them. That is because dandruff is a former skin on your head but due to humidity and heredital problems that skin is shed off.

The white flakes were a bit hard like egg shells, they had no odor nor had any additional layering underneath the already white surface. It was an all-white flake. Out of curiosity…..my sister would probably hit me if she finds out about this…. I took one of the larger white flakes and placed it on my lips to test out whether it had any taste.

It had no taste fortunately. With that said, I hurried spit the white flake out of my lips, not wanting to have any contagions on my lips.

"What in a world are you doing?"

I turned my head towards the direction of that voice and saw a blonde woman. She was wearing a blue vest-like garment which is opening similar to a jacket, pantyhose and a blue sailor's hat and also a….prominent chest.

"Pardon?" I replied.

This blonde woman who was a bit shorter than me, I think, walked towards me and started spraying fluids on my hair. No, she's not spitting those said fluids out of her mouth she was using a bottle with a sprinkler at the top. Feeling my hair drenching, I instantly grabbed her hand.

"Ara, now-now Zuikaku-chan. If you show hostility in your problematic stage you might not revert back you know?" The blonde woman gently removes my hand and took a round chair from the side and sat right beside me as she placed a towel on the bed railings.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Me? Hmm….Ah right, I am Atago, second ship of the Takao-class heavy cruisers, I think." She replied with uncertainty.

"I think? What are—"

"Anyway that should be the duration of our interaction for today." The blonde woman stood up from the chair and walked towards my arm. She then suddenly pulled out the IV fluids that were sticking on my right arm like I wouldn't feel any pain.

And of course I felt pain and immediately tried grabbing her but she immediately ran out of the room and left me there to contemplate on why must I suffer this way?

"That motherfucker…" I swore silently as I tried putting pressure on my right arm.

Oddly enough the pain was not there anymore. Like the pain was just there for a moment then disappeared for good.

Not only has that, headaches, body sores, that I felt numbly a while ago had now fully blurred away.

With that in mind, I shoved my legs to the side of the bed and gently placed them on the concrete floor. It was cold when the soles of my feet touched the floor. There was no sign of any slippers underneath the bed so with a tired sigh, I had no choice but to walk barefooted.

I tried standing up but as I did that I immediately fell back to the bed. My legs were like made of jelly. I waited for about ten seconds before trying to stand again this time a bit successful. Well, when I said a bit successful I meant shaking legs and an unbalanced posture.

Scanning my surroundings I saw a metal cane placed neatly beside the bed. It had a black foam on the handle and the handle itself was curved a bit inward like a boomerang.

"I just hope this is sturdy enough to carry by whole weight." I said unknowingly.

Fortunately enough the cane didn't collapsed due to my weight.

~o~

I found myself overlooking the bright red waters that were vividly visible from the window that I am currently overlooking on. I could also see Army soldiers wearing peculiar uniforms running on a nearby shore and opening empty barrels and stuffing inside this so called red fluid inside these barrels.

One soldier in particular was wearing this familiar uniform. I saw that uniform back at Yokosuka Naval Base. And the only soldiers I knew that had the same uniform as his were the Experimental Platoon's that Admiral Goto formed or—

"Soldier's from his platoon." I said with haste.

Without me knowing I was already hastily walking toward the exit. The metal cane was clanking loudly on the concrete floor as I increased my haste out of the building, the warm winds came on my forehead but I didn't care I had more things that are important than these warm winds.

The hot rocks were hurting my feet, I feel like I was walking a hallway with burning charcoal on the floor. But I walked and walked, headed straight to the man who was holding a notepad with his right hand and seems to be issuing orders to the men around him.

It was hard to breathe for some unknown reasons it was like my lungs were filled with dust and at the same time being beaten by a wooden bat. I gritted my teeth, trying my best to contain the pain as much as I could. I need to hold out until I reach that man.

"Excuse me!" I yelled, resting a palm at the soldier's shoulder.

Instantly the man turned his head to the side and at the same time jolted a bit to the side. He was sweating a bit, he was smelly as hell, and lastly I did not expect him to be this short.

"Excuse me, Zuikaku-san. But you shouldn't be out of your room right now." The white skinned Japanese replied with a worried tone.

"Ah, Ah— Right, my bad. I'm sorry I should be going back to my room right now." I replied to him and headed back to my room with my face downcast.

For some odd reasons, I felt disappointed from the fact that it was not him. Wait, who is Him? Who was I expecting to meet? Why in particular was I feeling disappointed when I met this unknown soldier and discovered that he was actually a Japanese person just like me?

Was it the uniform by any chance? Nah, that can't be it. In particular the only thing I knew about the so called Experimental Platoon's is that they tend do things that normal soldiers aren't meant to perform. If my memory serves me right, a recent operation was performed on the K.O.Z which ended with good results, although casualties were present as well.

"Hmm? What were you expecting perhaps?"

I raised my head once more and saw Atago leaning her back on a tree with her arms crossed on her stomach. She had this smug look on her face, her hair rustled when the air blew towards the side.

"Nothing in particular" My voice growing louder into a yell, "What's with you looking conceited like that when a while ago you removed the needles off my arm."

"Meh, at least it prompted you to stand away from that bed. Don't you like the warm air around here? If you want I could escort you to the beach!" She suggested.

But looking back that the red colored sea once more, I gave her a turning head not wanting to bathe myself on that fifthly looking ocean, still seeing a red sea like this it's giving me an eerie feeling.

"Hm? You don't like the red color? It's alright I tell you. It still smells like the ocean you know? And the color is just like that because an Abyssal Princess has decided to park herself on that small island over there."

An Abyssal Princess is making the ocean turn red? That's odd, I haven't heard anything like it. I've fought two abyssal princesses in the past but a phenomenon like this ain't present back then.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Atago turned around overlooking the red tainted ocean with her green eyes.

"No, I prefer blue rather than red." I replied to her.

She had this annoyed and downcast look whilst staring at the red sea. Atago then placed a hand on her belt pocket and took some small white flakes that were the same as the one's I saw from my hair.

"The old papers pass and the new one are opened." She said with a mellow tone as she raised her hand in front of her face.

The winds go by and the white flakes flew off to the side, as it flew by the color changed.

"I am sorry to tell you but I am a bit slow when it comes to riddles and bullshittery wordplays like that. So if you want to say something important but wanted to romanticize it, please stop you are making me have a quick headache. So cut to the chase." I said to her with an authoritative tone.

"Zuikaku, you are already dead." She said.

"What?"

Baffled, dumfounded, and flabbergast you name it. I was not expecting something that direct.

"As of today this is would be your third life already. Although your second life was a short lived one at least you were able to fulfill it like a normal human being would." Atago then turned her attention towards me.

"W-what are you talking about? True, I knew about my eventful demise at the Philippine Sea but that was years ago. Third life you say? But I haven't—"

"Died yet? You just fainted somewhere and were somehow transported here? True, Ichi-san was able to recover you but what she was unable to recover, was the second you." Atago added.

I died? I died of all people? But how did that happen? I was sure enough to be careful during the naval battle that I had Tsukuba and Ikoma to guard both my port and starboard. The only thing that could've taken me out would've been a submarine or even worse a mine. A stray shell isn't out of the question however.

"As of now you are the third Zuikaku. You still retain the old memories that you had with your second life but you have a choice here to change your overall self or retain it like the second one did." Atago's voice was dimming into a faint whisper, "Well not all of your memories are retained however."

"What are you talking about not all my memories are retained?!" I urged her to continue.

"You probably realized it by now a while ago, things like _why am I feeling as if I knew him?_ Suddenly popping up in your head, don't you ever wonder? I do not know which of which of the memories are erased since this is my first time meeting you in my second and third life. Truth be told, I didn't even heard anything about you during my days as a warship. Anyway, the only thing I could say now is that you still remember the overall identity of your second life but memories such as memorable events and others are left with blanks."

The more I listen to her the more things get complicated. I've heard about a shipgirl before, that was sunk in the process by Admiral Goto's orders in the past…when you think about it isn't one of those said shipgirls that went missing named Atago?

"You are crazy." I unknowingly said to her.

Atago turned her head towards me and gave me an alluring smile. For some odd reason she has this aura around her that was making me uneasy.

"Ehhhh, is that so? Well you gotta have to put up with it since we are the only shipgirls stranded here in Saipan." She replied leaning away from the tree that she was leaning on and walked pass me.

"What happen to my sister's fleet?! Has any of them contacted this base?!" I asked her as she walked away from me.

Atago stopped for about six feet away from me. She raised her head to the blue sky before resting an index finger at her cheeks.

"Dunno~" She replied.

Figures, what was I expecting from a shipgirl that has lost her mind? I watched her back entering the same building that I was resting on a while ago. She was audibly humming as she entered the front entrance. Out of curiosity I decided to tail her towards whatever location she would wound up with.

~o~

I found myself peeking on a small slit that was adjacent to the room that Atago recently entered. The room itself was located at the topmost floor of the building and a small metallic notice saying Keep Out. Based on the notice, I already had my own assumptions about this shipgirl named Atago.

Slowly I exhaled, trying my best not to push the dust buildup on the slit. If I accidentally blow them in Atago might saw this and would immediately suspect that someone is spying on her.

Atago was changing, she first removed the blue uniform-jacket that she was wearing and revealed a white sleeveless blouse underneath. She then angled her neck to the left making an audible clack signifying that a muscle joint was popped out. After that she then slowly unpinned the golden buttons of her blouse and…wait why am I describing this?!

Ehem, after she changed her set of clothes into a loose gray T-shirt and a pair of knee length shorts she opened the window of the room and sat at the window edge. The wind blew on her like a fan with her hair rustling to the side. It was also at that moment that I saw a change.

What kind of change perhaps? To be specific, her hair color was slowly changing from blonde to white. She was humming when the shift was happening and by the time she stopped humming she turned her attention towards the slit. No, towards me…..Her eyes, from the green color that I formerly saw was now a light purplish one, the same eye color as those abyssal princesses that I defeated a year prior.

She was smiling at me. A smile that was telling me that I shouldn't have spied on her but, I need to know! I need to know what the hell is going on. Why a shipgirl named Atago turned into an abyssal princess? What were the white flakes that she released a while ago signifying? Why the ocean is tainted red?

As I pondered over these questions I didn't realized that Atago was already kneeling in front of me. Her purple eyes staring back at me, and a faint muffled breathing could be heard from the opposite side.

"You shouldn't have pondered on things that aren't supposed to be known, Zuikaku-chan." The abyssal princess named Atago spoke with her eyes narrowed towards me and a murderous smile peering out.

I could feel my hands tremble. Dammit, I need to escape!

I need to—

A loud clank came to my ears. My vision blurred and I felt nauseated. Ara, The concrete floor seems to be resting on my cheeks for some reason. Did I collapse? I slowly raised my head and saw the same soldier that I approached a while ago.

Wearing the same uniform as Ermest and was holding a metallic baton on his hands.

Ermest? Who is he? How come his name sudden popped up inside my head?

Ermest…..that's a nice name right?

Slowly, without me noticing my vision was covered in black and a female's voice whispered to my ear.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Welcome home, Zuikaku-chan."

~o~

[That island exposed for the taking. We should close in now!]

[No-no, big breast-chan, we will not consume our dwindling resources on an island that's already ours.]

[Ours you say?]

[Yes, Saipan is already ours. You didn't realize that?]

[No]

[Well I don't blame you since you were not informed.]

[About what specifically?]

[That there are two abyssal princesses on that island, resting there.]

[Who are you calling abyssal princess?!] I shouted back.

The two talking voices fell silent for a moment and then...

[Who else? You of course!]

They answered simultaneously.

~o~

There is a rule saying that one must not abuse the power that was given upon. It might be a bible verse, I do not know, but hearing it from the emperor's mouth made me think deeper on it.

First, what is power? If we based it by its dictionary definition, power is something that makes you strong. But how? How does power make you strong?

In politics we call that the power to lead the people. But what happens if the people ceased following you? Does that make you powerless? It's so vague and complicated that I could not whitewash it using simple words.

"Admiral"

Holding the papers with my dominant hand I lowered it to the table and threw my attention at the shipgirl in front of me, which is also unfortunately my wife.

"Ooyodo?" I asked.

She had a solemn look on her face. It's rare to be seeing her this way. Usually she had this authoritative aura that I do not possess despite being an admiral. And seeing her this way is making me uneasy.

"Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news?" She suggested.

Out of experience I would rather hear the bad news first and contemplate before being brightened up by the good news.

"Then bad news it is." I said to her.

"Zuikaku sank but was recovered by I-1 and was relocated on Saipan for repairs—"

"Thank goodness. Good thing I've sent four recovery fleets as backup. Dammit, I shouldn't have sent Shoukaku's fleet at that region in the first place if it wasn't for that misleading information." I interjected.

"Admiral" Ooyodo rested her palm at my table.

"It's not yet over?"

"No the naval battle is over. Also, Tsukuba sank as well but recovered by I-3 and was transported to Okinawa for repairs. But-"

So two shipgirls sank from this operation? This operation was supposed to be a recon mission only to help preparations for the eventual invasion of the Marshall Islands. If only the reports sent from Saipan were accurate this wouldn't happen! What is intelligence group doing?!"

"Atago left the naval base."

Don't joke around Ooyodo… What am I saying? Ooyodo isn't that kind of a person who would joke around during a report.

"You'd better be joking Ooyodo..." I said to her.

"Atago was spotted talking with transport shipgirl, Nagatsuki before the departure of 2nd Lieutenant Fustaku's platoon."

"Bring me Nagatsuki this instant! And send the Navy branch to Saipan and recover Atago now!" I yelled, slamming my hand in the table and crashing the chair behind to the ground in the process.

"I've already sent the navy branch but they failed. Saipan is already in abyssal territory and the red ocean has already surrounded the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Guam. With regards of Nagatsuki-chan, she is already waiting outside." Ooyodo replied turning her attention to the two doors at the front. "Enter" she faintly called.

The door opened and a small shipgirl around four feet tall, wearing a black sailor uniform and a skipper's hat entered with a downcast look. Her eyes were still red and eye bags could be seen under her eyes.

"Nagatsuki of the 1st Transport Fleet, reporting." She said, trying her best to perform a salute but refused to look at me in the eye.

"Look at me." I said coldly, trying my best not to give in with my anger, "Do you realize what you have done?" I asked her.

Nagatsuki bit her lower lip and fidgeted with her hands for a moment. I let her do what she wants to do as long as she answered, properly.

"No," she replied.

I could feel my sack of patience exploding into a million pieces when I heard that. I lowered my head and took the downed chair behind me and raised it so I could sit on it. After that I placed both of my hands on my face and spoke with the coldest voice I could've uttered.

"Because of you not only have we lost an unstable heavy cruiser that almost sank two fleets trying to bring her back but you also contributed on losing an island that had 5,900 personnel working there..."

Ooyodo came to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. With a calm voice she said "I'll take it from here. You should rest and calm down."

"No," I replied, the anger of my voice contained in it. "You've been managing the naval base ever since I left it for a conference yesterday at the Japanese diet. Ooyodo you should instead rest and let me talk with her."

Ooyodo clenched tightly at my shoulder telling me that she refused my offer but I let her be, giving her the silent treatment in the process.

"Fine, I'll be at my quarters waiting for further orders." She replied heading straight to the exit without a word ever uttered again.

Silence filled my office.

I was somehow calm.

But calming down does not end the issue that we are currently dealing with. So I raised my head and saw Nagatsuki trying her best not to be intimidated by my angered expression. Her posture was a bit unsteady and her hands sweating noticeably.

"Nagatsuki, grab a seat." I ordered her, pointing my finger at the small chair placed in front of my table.

She followed my order and sat at the chair in front of me. As she did that I lowered my posture, placing my hands underneath my nose and stared at her.

"So tell me how you transported Atago to Saipan when she doesn't even have her battle riggings." I said.

Nagatsuki flinched for a second before slowly turning her attention towards me. Her forced smile breaking into a million pieces and her hands clenched on the arm rest.

"I-I transported her there when she asked me." She replied.

"Why?"

"B-because she asked me to, also Atago-san has been my favorite shipgirl ever since I was summoned. Y-you know what it's like to be a noncombatant shipgirl like me whose job is to transport equipment and supplies from one place into the other." She said.

"No I don't feel what you feel. Now I ask you, do you feel what I feel when I heard that two of my combatant shipgirls sank from a recent operation because the Intelligence Group is an incompetent group that should be burned to the ground with all of its personnel nailed on a cross…"

Nagatsuki had her eyes thrown away from me as I daggered her with my intimidating gaze. This would be the first time I have ever yelled on a shipgirl before. Upon realizing that I stopped halfway.

"Nagatsuki," I called her. Sequentially, Nagatsuki turned her attention towards me. Her lips deformed and her eyes on the verge of tears.

"Yes, Admiral?" She said.

"You will go to Alaska today on your own for the rest of the week, transporting resources to Alaska Anchorage." I said to her.

"But admiral!"

"This is a punishment, Nagatsuki. You cannot refuse this one or talk your way around it. Are we clear?"

"But admiral, route 443 is infested with subs and other kinds of abyssal vessels. A mere transport shipgirl like me won't last a week!" She complained lifting both of her hands forward.

"The conversation is over. You are dismissed, Nagatsuki."

I stood up from my chair before turning my back towards her whilst facing the window behind me.

Not a single word was uttered again and the only thing that entered my ears was the sound of door closing.

"That was harsh, Arimato."

"Punishments are still punishments. I will be counting on you, Yura." I replied staring at the group of shipgirls performing calisthenics.

I could feel her arms wrapping around my stomach. Her warm and slender body pressed at my back and her calm beating heart was subtle enough to be felt from my back.

"Why am I always the one being sent to babysit transport shipgirls on their maiden voyage? If you keep doing this, I might develop an unnatural urge of wanting a kid you know?" She said faintly from my back.

"Please stop teasing me." I pleaded her.

"Anyway, you shouldn't let your anger overwhelm you, Arimato. Things kinda get complicated once your patience has broken loose and I for one saw how annoying you are once that happen…..If I were her I would definitely do the same thing."

"Then I too will do the same thing and send you on a punishment voyage. On your own, with some hidden shipgirls trailing behind you."

"Uuuuu, how rude" She said with a displeased tone.

Slowly her arms separated from my body until I could no longer feel her beating heart. With a sigh, I turned around and saw no one left inside the office. I was the only one left, breathing faintly as I examine my surrounding.

I sat back to my chair and pathetically lowered my posture. I put down my Admiralty hat on the table and saw a letter placed neatly on the table.

Before I could open it up however a new person entered my office, hastily opening the double doors that the hinges were almost loosed.

"Admiral!"

A white haired shipgirl wearing a white miko uniform and red skirt hastily walked towards my table and sat on the chair adjacent to me.

"What is it Shoukaku?" I asked with a hand resting on my forehead.

"Don't what is it me! My sister is still stuck at Saipan we need the clearance now to get her out of there!" She yelled, ringing my ears in the process.

"The clearance is still denied, Shoukaku." I replied.

"You can't just leave her there! If you don't want to send us then send a different fleet already and get my sister back here!"

"Ooyodo already did that and failed. Saipan is already part of Abyssal Territory."

Shoukaku leaned forward, her eyes furrowed and expression tainted with fury.

"Did you really think that I haven't heard that? Just give me the word already and my fleet will be sortied there immediately!"

"And then what? What can a carrier escorted with two battleships, two battlecruisers, one heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and four destroyers do against two abyssal princesses, the same abyssal princesses that rendered your fleet incapable of being used again?" I said to her.

Shoukaku slowly leaned back gritting her teeth as hard as she could whilst giving me a downcast look. She had her hands clenching the rims of my table, clearly making visible cracks as Shoukaku exert more force.

"You will be put on standby until Tsukuba returns together with Myouko and Fuso's fleets. I've been told that Tsukuba has already recovered and the combined fleet is currently sailing back; they will arrive two days later. Until then, once all three fleets have prepared, I will give you the green light." I said to her, grabbing the letter with my dominant hand.

"Fine" She replied giving me hasty salute and headed straight to the exit without any remarks.

So what am I going to do? I have six problems to fix as of this day. First, is the pressure being pressed on my shoulder from the Japanese Diet, ordering me to retake the Kyushu Islands already in which we are still preparing to do so in the near future. Second, Atago has escaped from her confinement cell. Third, Shoukaku's fleet is heavily damaged. Fourth, I've sent Nagatsku on a punishment voyage with no idea on how she will manage. Fifth, 2nd Lieutenant Fustaku's platoon is currently stuck on Europe since the Europa Line has shifted once more and a lot of able bodied soldiers are sent on the frontlines. Lastly, the recent loss of Zuikaku, if others hear about this I'm pretty sure that the moral will be heavily affected just like Atago's situation in the past.

Dammit who am I to complain? Most of the problems that are currently listed on the priority list are mostly issued because of my actions. Specifically problems two until six. Wait, isn't that almost all of the priority problems?

I let out a prolonged sigh as I leaned on my newly bought table that I bought as replacement for the shattered table last December.

Wow, time sure goes fast. Not so long ago we were fighting abyssals using century old doctrines and now, five years later, we are currently reverting back to World War I tactics of making trenches that stretches for miles.

I turned my attention to the small calendar placed beside a portrait picture of my family. Today was January 12th 2051, specifically Friday afternoon. I wonder what it's like fighting at the Europa Line. I wonder what Fustaku-san is doing right now? I sure hope he is doing fine with his own platoon after all it was me who sent them there out of thought that the Europa Line wouldn't shift again….

Now for the letter that's been bugging me for a while now. I wonder who left it here, Yura maybe. Nah can't be her. Maybe I put it here and forget its existence like most papers do. I sure hope that this letter isn't something important.

Using a letter opener I placed the cutting edge of the blade at the tip of the letter. With a forward motion the letter was opened revealing a blue paper inside. It was folded into three equal columns and the content says..

Rank: Rear Admiral Arimato Goto

Service ID: 40K1440

Station: Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan

Sender: Dr. Ikashi Shindo

Subject: Check-up

Hello Admiral Goto;

Yesterday Ooyodo, one of your wives visited me and asked for a sudden…..

Blah—

Blah—

Blah—

And it appears that she is pregnant with a healthy baby girl.

~o~

I can feel it. What? You might ask. What am I talking about is the amount of ropes or belts that were tied around my body. With my vision covered with a cloth it was hard to say whether it was rope or a leather belt. But one thing's for sure, I am currently resting my body on a soft bed.

Probably the same bed that I woke up on but with the additional restrains to keep me on the bed. I shouldn't have listened to that sly bitch in the first place, but then again I was still out in the black and I need information. Thinking about it now that was really a bad move for me.

"Hmm still don't get it, have we? Well that's unfortunate" I heard a female's voice.

It was Atago no doubt. That annoying cheery voice of hers is already making me furious the more I listen to her mantras that she's been bombarding me for a minute now.

"Cut to cross and follow that trace, look for things that have disappeared. Fill the words and reality will remain." Her words echoed to my ears.

"What are you talking about?" I shouted.

"Cut to cross and follow that trace, look for things that have disappeared. Fill the words and reality will remain." Atago repeated.

Cut to cross and follow that trace? What are you talking about? Which trace? I can only see darkness dammit!

"In the abyss one must only trust her ears until light has appeared. Once you master the first step you will understand better." She said resting a palm on my forehead. "Do the first step, Zuikaku." She whispered to my ear.

"Why are you doing this Atago? What are your motives?!" I struggled to break away from the restrains.

"Do you really think that I would answer that question if you ask kindly enough? Hehehe, how naïve." She replied with a deep voice.

I need to break free, at least one arm. One arm and that'll do the rest. Once I break free, Atago is no match for me in terms of horsepower!

"Cut to cross and follow that trace~"

I felt something dripping on my forehead. It was cold and had a same stench as rusted iron. Then after that I felt a nail resting at the center of my forehead.

"If you can't find it then I'll just have to help you then." Atago said.

Slowly, I felt pain burrowing on my forehead. It was bearable at first but then the pain suddenly erupted into a full blown burning sensation that I could feel my brains trembling in the process.

"Stop it!" I yelled, turning, struggling my way free from these restraints.

"Cut to cross and follow that trace~" The first phrase repeated

"Arrahhhhhhhh!" I screamed in agony as I felt the nail penetrating my skull.

Thrashing side to side, praying to whichever god that's alive to set me free from this restraints. And just like that the darkness that surrounded me was replaced with a white sheet and the pain erupting on my forehead faded.

"Look for things that have disappeared~" The second part echoed inside my head.

What has disappeared? The dark void? The pain that I felt just seconds ago? Or—

I lowered my gaze and saw the same dark boots on my legs. I was standing on a field filled with white flowers. The stench of pineapple was present as well…..as well as this audible deep exhaling noise.

Slowly I turned my head towards this noise and saw what appears to be a breathing black creature with red drool coming out of its wide mouth. I had this urge of running away but then this creature turned its attention towards me and spoke with a deep male's voice.

"My lady is there something wrong?" The creature asked.

"A—"I tried uttering a word but it wouldn't come out. It was as if the words were stuck at my throat, unable to spit it out.

"My lady if there is anything you need, please tell me." The creature spoke once more. It was moving a bit further away from my back.

"Wh-who are you creature?" I asked as calmly as I could. Trying my best not to provoke it or else it might eat me alive.

"Who am I, my lady? Well I am your symbiotic carrier that is attached to you via an umbilical cord and is fortunate enough to be given intelligence to speak and process your questions. Though I am not given a name, yet." The monster replied uttering a white cloud out of its large mouth.

A symbiotic creature that is attached to me?! Did I hear that correct?

"Then what are you?" I asked once more.

The creature fell silent. Despite not having any eyes it was facing me like a lion that had its interest towards me. The triangular shaped creature that had the similar shape as a quarter pie walked towards me, the umbilical cord could be seen sticking out of its back like a tail.

"I am a creature born from the depths of the sea. That is sworn to protect you, my lady, until my very last breath." The creature replied.

Unknowingly, my legs moved on its own accord….backwards. One step and the other, I saw the distance between me and the creature slowly increasing. It was at this moment that I realized something.

"My lady?" The creature called.

"No, No, I am a shipgirl. I am a shipgirl summoned by Admiral Goto to—"

Suddenly I fell on my back. The umbilical cord was tangled around my left armored boot that I—No, why am I using my old standard carrier boots when I already replaced them years ago? Also if these were my former standard carrier boots they do look a bit different than before.

I raised my left arm towards the cord that was tangled around my leg to unloose it but—

Since when did I sortie with black clothes?

I was wearing black skintight gloves that were lightly covered by the frills of my sleeves. The wind blew forward and I saw my hair rustling forwards with the wind.

"White?" I said unknowingly.

White, it was white hair. It was the same hair color as my sister Shoukaku, the same hair color that I always wanted ever since I was summoned. But despite that, despite this aweing feeling, I felt something was amiss.

"My lady?" The creature spoke once more as it stood in front of me, "Is there something wrong?" Its voice growing firm.

"W-who am I?" I asked the creature.

Silence, I was answered with silence. It infuriated me that I unknowingly dashed forward and grabbed the creature by its teeth and yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Answer me abyssal!"

"Fill words and reality will remain~" The third passage echoed to my head.

 **…...**

"I am Zuikaku" I said,

"You are…. Aircraft Carrier Water Demon." The creature replied simultaneously.

Static, immediately after hearing his answer I heard static. With an audible tone the phrase repeated once more.

"Cut to cross and follow that trace, look for things that have disappeared. Fill the words and reality will remain." The unknown speaker spoke once again.

Light, slowly I saw light. With a fuzzy vision I saw Atago wearing her blue uniform-jacket sitting on a round chair with her legs crossed and was holding a quiver packed of black arrows.

"So, let me ask you. Who are you?" She asked with a cheery tone.

"I—"How should I answer? What should I answer?

I lowered by head and saw my hair narrowing my view. Greenish-gray…... the same despised hair color that I owned.

"I am Zuikaku." I replied, "Zuikaku, the second ship of the Shoukaku-class armored carriers."

A smile emerged from Atago's lips. Her left brow rose a bit. She then stood up from the chair and approached me, placing the quiver right next to me.

"It would've been bad if you turn abyssal before the rescue party arrives." Atago spoke softly as she removed the restraints.

How I wished I could raise my hand and choke her to death. But fortunately for her I feel tired and I could not move some of my body parts just yet.

"I am terribly sorry for you to go all through that experience. Believe it or not, I need you Zuikaku. I need to you to save the soldiers in this island as well as defeating those two abyssal princesses on your own." Atago sat back on her chair and scratched the back of her head.

"You had me experience all that just to ask me to defeat two abyssal princesses? You piece of shit you should've said so sooner, Atago." I replied to her with a coarse voice.

"Well I had to do something even more important than asking you to defeat two abyssal princesses."Atago removed her blue sailor cap and wiggled her hair to the sides. A second later she stopped and her hair color changed into white.

"As you can see, I am already in the same category as you so you got to put up with it." She said wiggling her hair again regaining its former color, "I can only change my identity just like that but in terms of fighting them I could not. You are the only one here that is capable of fighting them in a square fight." Atago clarified.

I've seen her change her hair color a before. And seeing it upclose again...

"That still doesn't change the fact that you did that all to me! How do you suppose I would say? Alright I'll do just that, after torturing me like that? Fuck no!" I shouted back.

"My lady, please refrain from shouting louder than usual." Came a male's voice.

Waiting beside me is the same quarter pie shaped abyssal that had a six inch wide teeth and was drooling red fluids out of its enormous mouth.

"How? How is this here?!" I yelled leaning away from it.

The abyssal looked like it was threatened and tried moving away from me. I felt a warm hand resting on my shoulder and saw Atago giving me a warm smile.

"He is your new partner now." Atago said with a solemn tone. "He was summoned when you turned into a pseudo abyssal like me."

After hearing that I shoved Atago's hand off my shoulder.

A pseudo abyssal? What in a world are you talking about, I am shipgirl! I was summoned as one, not with the likes of this bullshittery thing you call as pseudo abyssal!

"What you are clearly suggesting here is that I'm not a shipgirl anymore?" I said with a wavering tone.

"That may be true, my lady. But to me who is born from the depths of the sea. I still see you as a shipgirl that I was born to kill, to sink." The abyssal spoke a white mist coming out of his large mouth. "But, you are still the one who summoned me. You might not know it since you summoned me without you even realizing it but through Atago's methods she was able to hasten the speed in a way that you abyssalized in a single day instead of a week and some precautionary actions were added to prevent you from turning into a full pledge abyssal."

"That may have been true but if I were to fail somewhere there she might not have turn out this way." Atago replied.

Hearing her saying it casually is already giving me headaches. After letting out a faint sigh and a shrug I turned my attention to the abyssal beside me.

"You should give him a name by the way since he is basically your new partner that I cannot see with my own eyes in this form." Atago added.

"You cannot see him despite the fact that you are talking to me like you could see him?"

"Well not technically. You see, this symbiotic abyssal that you summoned is basically your so called other self. They are the ones that carry the burden of our former memories before you and I sank for the second time. They only exist in our own personal realities and are imperceptible by other people aside from you. But, if you turn abyssal now he will appear into the reality that we all knew and live, he can eat, breathe as well as protect you if need be. I too had my own symbiote before Takao sank me in my abyssal form, and with him dead I regained my memories…well some of it." Atago had a forceful smile.

A thing that only exists via my own perception, a hallucination that is only projected by own personal reality? If that's so—

Slowly I approached the abyssal and rested my palm on its flat overhead. It was hard and smooth like a polished rock.

"But I can feel him. I can feel his breath, I could hear his words, I can touch him…how is he a thing that only exists through my eyes?" I said to Atago as I examined the abyssal's overhead.

"Like I said, he exists in your own personal reality not mine's or the others around you. He will be there telling you stuff. But I can still hear him since I am a pseudo abyssal but in terms of perception. I need to shift into my abyssal form to be able to see him."

The low rumbling sound that the abyssal was making was like of a lion that was sleeping peacefully. No eyes, the surface of his exoskeleton is made of tough rock like material that all abyssals used to protect themselves. It had two small legs on the side and a jet black skin with red lines along the corner of his whole body.

"So have you ever thought of giving it a name yet?" Atago called from the back.

Why are you persistently enquiring me on what I should name him? Alright, giving him a name wouldn't hurt right? I hope so.

"Orizuru," I said with a calm tone, "His name will be Orizuru."

Despite the fact that this other me is an abyssal in shape that should be destroyed, I still gave him a name that is almost similar as mine.

"Orizuru huh? Not too bad I should say. Anyway I should be going for now, you can use this room if you want but a word of warning first." Atago paused and gave me a cold expression, "Do not answer the calls of the abyss. Fight it with all of your might until Akashi gets a thorough examination of you. Orizuru, please don't give her the whispering treatment okay?"

With that said Atago walked towards the exit and slowly closed the door. Left alone inside the room, I got out of my bed and wasted some time examining Orizuru, examining every nook and cranny of this other half of mine.

"My lady you have to stop doing that." Orizuru complained.

"Stop calling me _my lady_. I am your other half, call me Zuikaku." I said to him whilst examining the insides of his mouth.

There was this slight atmosphere of silence. Orizuru's deep-shallow breathing was the only thing that could be heard inside the room.

"Mind if I ask you a question, Zuikaku?" Orizuru spoke.

Raising my neck a little I gave him a curious look before standing up from my crouched position.

"Ask away."

"Why are you so calm about this?"

What are you implying here?

"Calm?" I replied with a question.

"Yes, I can feel your emotions and state of mind right now. Although it might act as if I am peering over private sectors about yourself but it intrigued me, a little." He said.

Is that so? Well to tell you the truth I am also having trouble on how I should feel right now but one thing's for sure. I somehow feel secure when he is around. When did I feel this way?

"No need to answer." Orizuru said, "The emotions that you currently bare are enough for me to conclude this question with silence, this is fine."

"This is fine?" I asked, confused.

"Knowing your emotions by exploiting our symbiotic bond together, although it feels wrong but at least I now know that I am being acknowledged as an existence and not just a figure of speech." Orizuru spoke not a hint of emotion into his sentence.

When you put it that way, a thought came to my mind like how a light bulb is suddenly animated when an idea is struck.

"When you think about it, if you are my other half then can you tell me why I have blanks in my current memory?"

Atago told me about this before I was knocked out and was forcefully pseudo abyssalized.

"I cannot explain it scientifically but when a thing dies, usually their memories are erased. What happened in your case, you were supposed to be dead but you defied that and came back alive when the maintenance soldiers drenched you with the so called _Repair Bucket_. However, because I was summoned a part of your memories were transferred to me." Orizuru's voice slowly turned into a whisper.

"What you are clearly saying—"

"You are dead but not really dead because you are here breathing and talking to me, your other self. Does that clarify things?"

Is that so? Well no it still made me have a mental breakdown not because something snapped inside me but because I am having trouble understanding the words you are saying. Guess I won't be getting those erased memories back after all, although there's this part of me that doesn't want to forget those insignificant memories behind. Alright moving on, another question should suffice for today.

"Say, is it really true that the Abyssals were the ones that invaded humanity back at 2046?"

Orizuru decided to shut his mouth. Though if I were to be asked with this question I would shut-up since I don't want to talk about it but it intrigued me so I urged him to answer.

"Hey—"

"Yes, we were the ones who attacked first." Orizuru answered.

"Hmm, is that so? Then care to explain to me why you attacked the human race?" I replied.

"The answer is simple really. It was the First One's orders to attack and we lesser abyssals must comply with the First One's command. We are her children after all."

The First One? Is he implying about the First Abyssal in existence?

"So the Abyssal Hierarchy is like of a hive, a queen at the top and the lesser abyssal at the bottom?" I said.

"Correct. Although lesser abyssals such as I aren't the lowest on the hierarchy." Orizuru added.

"Then what is?" I asked with a curious expression as I sat on the round chair that Atago sat not so long ago.

"Mortuus, the ones at the lowest block are called Mortuus." Orizuru answered.

Pardon me?

"You seem to be having difficulty understanding my answer. It is fine since it is a Latin word and since you are a Japanese shipgirl of course you would have difficulties." Orizuru added.

Hey that sounded a bit racist for a moment there but I digress. Anyway, Mortuus are the so called workers in the hierarchy? Well doesn't that sound interesting, when you think about it, this so called Abyssal Hierarchy would probably interest the higher brass.

"So can you explain in detail what Mortuus means? If you could translate it in English that would be great if you are having trouble translating it in Japanese…wait how can you understand me?"

Bloody hell, why haven't I realized it sooner? It really slipped my mind! For a while now Orizuru's been talking to me casually. But he is actually just growling this whole time!

"Have you forgotten? I am connected to you via umbilical cord that is attached on your spinal cord. Your emotions, senses, and way of thinking are transferred to me directly thanks to that connection. The reason why you are able to understand me despite me growling this whole time is because I've sent special neurons from my brain and transmit it directly to your cerebrum via the umbilical cord that allows you to understand directly what I am saying. Also, you can understand other abyssals whose communications rely on non-verbal interactions with other abyssals, because of this special neuron." Orizuru added.

So basically an auto translator imbedded inside my cerebrum? Well isn't that handy enough, it's like an enigma code breaker that the British used on their ships to intercept submarine communications.

"Well isn't that kinda handy?" I said to him with an amaze expression.

"True, also as you dive deeper into our territory. You will hear the First One's lullaby."

"The First One's lullaby?" I repeated.

"It's a low frequency hum that normally you wouldn't hear if you don't have this special neuron. It's actually a soothing hum that motivates the battle wary abyssals that fought both on sea and land. If time permits and you can finally sail again you might come across this lullaby."

A lullaby from the Queen to her soldiers. Well doesn't that sound romanticized? Like a story from the old ages where queens and kings dominated the civilized kingdoms of Europe and Asia.

"Unfortunately for me, despite me knowing via your thoughts inside your head, I cannot replicate the lullaby of the First One since I do not have the lung capacity to produce such low frequency sound." Orizuru added.

Well isn't that nice? You were able to peer inside my head before I could even say anything to you, you thought peeper.

"Please don't call me that. it is just we are connected that I could clearly hear your thoughts like it was me who was making this stimuli." Orizuru added.

"You still haven't translated the word Mortuus in English or Japanese though." I said to him, raising my body from the round chair and walked slowly towards the window.

"Deceased in English and Shisha in Japanese…."

The deceased? So basically when you die you become a lesser abyssal in the process? Does that mean that abyssals have long aging cycles?

"No, the way you think it in your head is wrong. Though we do age a bit slower than most organisms, which one is correct, but the former is wrong. Mortuus' are not purebred abyssals like me they are organisms, that had their own identity before being deformed into something that resembles an abyssal."

"So what you are saying these Mortuus' are beings that were reanimated into abyssals?"

"That is correct. Though it might sound inhumane, we are losing this war so we had to do things that way." Orizuru clarified.

This is not the answer that I was hoping to receive. I did not expect to learn something this inhumane. Reanimated organisms? That's straight out of a science fiction genre. Then again, the beings called the Abyssals is already making things appear as if we are inside a science fiction novel.

"So you do confess that you are losing this war and have resorted into fighting inhumane tactics to return the favor towards your side?"

"That I do not deny. Have you not wondered it by now?" Orizuru spoke with a deep tone.

"Wondered about what exactly?" I said to him.

"On why there are humanoid like abyssals eating, killing, dismembering, and mutilating your soldiers?"

Don't tell me—

"You've been fighting your own corpses ever since the first Humanoid abyssal was spotted at the outskirts of France, you know?"

"Wait, this is getting out of hand. You are telling me the reason why there aren't any corpses left on the battlefields is because you used our own dead to your own advantage?!"

It slipped my mind that I was already shouting at him.

"Humans, gorillas, lions, tigers, sharks, whales, birds, reptiles, don't you ever wonder why they almost look the same as the ones that wondered around land and sea? Well the only thing that the First One did was change the DNA makeup of the deceased organism and added some abyssal DNA in it and viola, a half-bred abyssal being."

I let out a sigh of bafflement. My mind is a total mess right now. I could not think straight, my head hurt like a bat was swung on it from behind and my eyes hurt like they were staring at a luminescent light emitted from a welding machine.

A reanimated being, when you think about it am I not also a so called pseudo abyssal? I died didn't I? So how did I turn into an abyssal like being when I haven't even met the Queen?

"You didn't meet her. She gave you the abyssal DNA via the red tide, very same color that the oceans controlled by the abyssals have dark red color reminiscent of blood." Orizuru added.

So I somehow got some abyssal DNA absorbed in my body? I see. So that is the case. So—

"You aren't mistaken, Zuikaku. The enemies that you are currently fighting on the sea are former shipgirls that died in the field of battle."

If Shoukaku sank….if Owari, Tosa, Tsukuba, Ikoma, Ashigara, Kashima, Akizuki, Kamikaze, Katsura, and Shiraume-chan or any of the currently summoned shipgirl sinks.

"Then you have to fight them and give them a proper end." Orizuru said from my back.

Hearing him say that casually is giving me a headache. I suppose I cannot blame him since he is born with that kind of allegiance and he is just unfortunate enough to be summoned via my own personal reality. I guess that is what they meant with putting up with something that they do not want.

"I am just a lesser abyssal, born from the depths of my host's personal reality. I do not serve the First One now. I serve my host, my other self, I am yours to command." Orizuru replied with the same emotionless tone after hearing my thoughts in my head.

"I do not trust you." I said to him blatantly.

"I know. After all how could you trust an abyssal that you were summoned to kill? Time and my actions will determine whether you should ever trust me or not. So give me the time to reassure you that I exist to carry your burden, I am your other self after all." Orizuru replied.

With nothing to say to him I lowered my gaze turned my attention to the opened window. For now, I will try my best not turn into an abyssal like Atago has in the past. Well for certain, I do not even know how to turn into an abyssal so that problem is kinda not a priority.

"You do know how to turn into an abyssal, Zuikaku." Orizuru said.

"Is that so?"

"You can shift in between like Atago, since you are a pseudo abyssal. But I won't tell you how unless you give me your assurance of trust to me. That way, you won't turn into a pseudo abyssal without you even realizing it."

"Then I don't trust you." I replied.

"Fair enough" Orizuru replied.

Good, if what Orizuru said is true about not giving him my trust prevents me from turning into a abyssal then there—

Help!

A call, it was a call. It was a faint call from the distance. Curiously I walked toward the window and poked my head out to find the source of this voice.

Please help me! I want to go home!

There it is again. For—….For some unknown reason I felt like I had to go and answer that call. Wait, I don't have my bow and quiver…ah, that's right the quiver that Atago was holding a while ago, I could use that. Now all I need now is to find a launching bow—

"Zuikaku"

I could go to the armory right now if ever there's one and I could just steal that bow if the need arises. But if there isn't then I will be forced to make my own one—

"Zuikaku!"

"What?!"

I turned my head towards the owner of the yelling voice. And saw Orizuru standing behind me, its mouth wide open.

"Do not be fooled." He said.

"Fooled? But someone is calling for help."

Orizuru suddenly dashed forwards pinning my back on the wall. Its mouth wide open and his red drool coming out of its mouth. It was filthy, and some of it was already staining my miko outfit.

"That's the calling that Atago is talking about. Do you want to abandon all of her efforts to save you?! Do you want to abandon the things you've earned now?!" Orizuru shouted. His voice ringing inside my head like a bell.

At that moment I felt like a freed person. A person that was freed from a indoctrination, I felt nauseous and my chest felt cramped all of a sudden.

"Ha~Ha~"

"Looks like you are having trouble breathing."

"What do you think?!" I yelled back.

"Well sorry for pinning on the wall. I was just tr—sorry."

It took me some time to recover from that. I could still hear the calling of help from the horizon but the previous unbearable urge of wanting to go there was not present anymore. I wonder what would've happen if Orizuru hadn't stopped me there.

"Ah—"

Clumsily I suddenly fell forwards from my own weight but Orizuru immediately swooped in between and I found myself leaning on his flat overhead.

"It looks like it affected your cerebellum. Come, climb on top of my head, I'll carry you towards the bed." Orizuru proposed.

Slowly I climbed on top of his head and rested my back on a raised part of his head that resembled the backrest of a wooden chair. It felt comfortable oddly enough. Despite Orizuru's small legs he was able to carry me towards the bed in a stable manner.

"You can climb down now." Orizuru said to me.

"I think I'll stay here for now. I suddenly had this urge to sleep." I replied to him with a soft tone.

My body felt heavy all of a sudden and I felt lazy climbing down from Orizuru's head. After letting out a tired sigh I pulled my legs into a fetal position and slowly closed my eyes.

"As you wish" Orizuru's voice entered my ear once more.

After that I felt my consciousness diving deep into the dark void.

~o~

I am currently peeking on a small hole that I bore a while ago before Zuikaku woke up this afternoon. After performing a forced shift on her while she still retained some of her identity as a shipgirl, I was able to help her by turning her into a pseudo abyssal like me and permanently stopped the abysmalufication process. In simple terms I stopped her from turning into an abyssal.

I did not expect Zuikaku to be shifting that way after I ordered one of the maintenance workers here to knock her out. I was even forced to kill that said man after he saw Zuikaku shifting into an abyssal. Though it was an unnecessary action it was a way to make sure that no one would know about the existence of this.

Truth be told, I expected her to run wild when she finally saw her other self after I turned her into a pseudo abyssal. I had to resort to phrase hypnotism on her so that the symbiote in her personal reality wouldn't overwhelm her with brainwashing words that I personally experience in the past.

Good thing that the symbiote that was born via her personal reality isn't too aggressive like mine was. Maybe it's because Zuikaku is a pseudo abyssal unlike me who was once a half-bred abyssal? Maybe not, I still need more data for Akashi to work on. So for now, I must observe Zuikaku until Admiral Goto sends a relief Task Force to get us out of here.

I just hope those Abyssal Princesses won't get the stupid idea of actually visiting us here. Zuikaku and I faking our telepathic signatures as abyssals thanks to our pseudo status in which the Abyssal princesses do not know, to protect the soldiers here would just be for a naught if that happens.

As I muttered over that, I peeked once again on the small hole and saw the unearthly situation Zuikaku is currently in. Zuikaku is currently floating in the air not because she is possessed or anything but because she is currently resting on top of Orizuru's head, I say this because I can see Orizuru's figure if I shift into my abyssal form. I still do not trust that symbiote of hers but if what he says is true about not turning Zuikaku into her abyssal form without his host's approval of trust then….I can only hope.

~o~

How does it feel to be a soldier fighting in the Armed Forces, let alone a female? Well to answer that question I need space.

And by space I meant getting out of this hunk of metal that is currently disabled due to the impact of my fall.

"Venset?" I yelled.

But I received no answer. Did the Titan run out of power? That was the first question that appeared in my head. I wanted to try out an overall diagnostics via the terminal beside my left joystick but it was busted into chunks of metal. Some of which unfortunately burrowed its way on my left thigh.

"Ugh,"

Using my dominant hand I applied pressure at the front of the wound to try and stop the bleeding after I removed the metal chuck out of my thigh. When I did that well, I expected it to hurt like hell but instead I was only met with a bee sting.

Don't get me wrong it was still painful but not as painful as being shot at the thigh. Anyway, using a tourniquet from my first aid bag located at the back of my hip belt, I permanently closed the top end of my thigh and applied morphine. After that I just wrapped a bandage around it and prayed that the morphine I used was not too much that it would cause problems on my end.

I still have a mission to do and I ain't doing it alone.

"LT?" I pressed the transmission button on my helmet that transmits a distress signal to another pilot like me that had a similar radio frequency as mine.

And by LT, I meant my commanding officer that came with me for this operation since both of us were the only ones that received Titans from Engineer Holland.

"LT?"

But oddly enough I cannot seem to find him via the on-screen map displayed inside my helmet. He is also not responding on my hails so that only means two things.

"Either he is dead or just brain dead who forgot to turn on his tracking signal."

Enough of that I need to get out of this Titan and figure out a way to take out our target. Which is a walking airfield type abyssal designated as Ku-type.

"Now where is that ejection button again?"

After some time of doing trial and error, and by that I meant pressing random flashing buttons inside the cockpit hoping that one of them would eject me out of this thing or at least open the cockpit cover since the automatic detachment system is busted.

"Operator"

What? You were alive this whole time? What in a world were you thinking?!

"What?" I replied.

"Please don't press that button. That is the self-destruct button that you are about to press."

I immediately froze my finger from ever coming closer to this small violet button placed at the right side of the cockpit. Okay note taken, violet button equals self-destruct. Okay that's one less button not to worry about.

"I-Is that so? Ah, good. Good for pointing that out." I said to him my hands were slowly moving away from this dangerous button.

"I thought you read the manual? Anyway, I'll open the cockpit doors for you, just give me a moment." Vencet announced via intercoms.

So I waited for about a minute and finally the cockpit doors opened and the cold breeze entered my cockpit. The cold winds chilled deep into my skeleton as if penetrating through my uniform.

The sunlight blinded me a little when I slowly emerged out of the cockpit. Although I was wearing a pilot helmet it didn't stop me from getting a mild black spot on my vision.

"Where are currently?" I asked him.

"We are currently 30 kilometers from Landeck and about a kilometer away from our objective." Venset replied.

Poor guy, my titan is currently resting its back inside this huge crater that was almost as big as his frame. His arms were buried on the ground and his legs were folded into a 90 degree angle.

"Thirty kilometers, Jesus that's a far away throw. Anyway can you get out of the crater now?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot comply." Venset replied.

"What do you mean you cannot?"

"I require additional battery to move." He replied.

"Where am I gonna find a battery for you? I need you right now!" I shouted.

"I just need you to retrieve a battery cell a few meters from here that was caught out of my battery storage when we crash landed." Venset added.

How did a battery cell manage itself out of your battery storage? Anyway I just hope that few meters from here, is not actually five hundred meters away. I'd rather not fight against abyssals barefooted.

"I've already given you the location of the battery cell on your HUD. I hope for your safe return." Venset added.

Safe return? How is a normal foot soldier like me return safely when there is a Ku-type somewhere is this region? If things come to worst I may have to fight one on my own with my puny rifle.

Anyway after grunting my way out of the crater, I found myself standing on an open field. Grass as tall as my hip were stretching across downhill. Did we somehow crash land on a hill? Either way I could use the environment to my advantage since I have a small body figure. If an abyssal drone passes for its daily patrols I could just duck down and pray for it to pass by. I just hope that Venset would activate his cloak if that happens, I'd rather not have him spoil the party.

According to the layout of the region, the lake that Engineer Holland was talking about is approximately one kilometer away and is located northwest from my current crouched position. The battery is currently resting on a small patch of woodland just west of my position approximately 500 meters away. If I am lucky enough, I might not have to confront a Hu or Chu-type on my own.

I only have three magazines on my belt. This might not be enough for a single day.

"Found it,"

After walking for about ten minutes a two feet long container that had green luminescent lights placed on a horizontal pattern could be seen covered by green leaves. The leaves were still moist indicating a recent fog or rain and the surrounding bushes were crushed down by something.

"I have to get out of here." I said to myself.

Using a thick rope from my miscellaneous bag, I placed the metal hook of the rope and hooked it on a small three by two centimeter hole placed at the battery cell's outer edges. The battery cell itself weighed around five kilograms which is bearable but still this two foot annoyance is still preventing me from walking straight.

Using the other end of the rope I tightly knotted the other unhooked part of the rope on another three by two centimeter hole on the other side of the battery cell. I had to resort on using a stick to forcibly push the thick rope in since it was refusing to slip inside the tight hole.

With that done, I inserted my body inside the small gap of the fastened ropes and carried the battery cell like a shoulder bag.

"Now where was I—"

Before I could start moving I found myself in awe when I saw a large eyeball peeking between the trees in front of me.

The hairs of my body immediately stood up and my instincts were yelling me not to move. Using my left hand I pushed the safety mechanism of my rifle and prepared for the worst.

Slowly the trees in front of me moved. The rustling sound of the leaves were growing louder and louder until a loud slam knocked me to the ground.

I heard a growl.

It was very audible.

The large eyeball finally decided to show its overall figure. In which I definitely did not expect to.

"Fuck—"

I swore deep inside my heart that I should've thrown sensors around my perimeter to check whether it was safe or not.

The large eyeball closed and with it, its main body emerged out of the cover of the forest and into the open grass field.

It had a triangular head that was placed horizontally and a miniature looking airfield on its head. Underneath that miniature airfield is a mouth that could swallow a crocodile whole. Large canine teeth could be seen covering the insides of its large mouth.

"Fuck-fuck-puta-puta!" I screamed internally.

Jet black skin and large dragon like scales could be seen on its stomach and shoulders. It had four humanoid arms that acted as legs to support its small main body and eight tentacles that had sharp three feet long edges at the tips were attached on its sides.

Such an odd looking creature but you wouldn't say that to its face, Oh no, fortunately for you I could just describe it using words but if I could use my phone now and take a picture with it I'm pretty sure you would piss yourselves. Be thankful that I cannot describe it properly like Shakespeare.

"Oh, Romeo. Why art thou forsaken me?" I said in a mutter as I swung my StA 409 forward and rained APAR (Armor Piercing Akashi made Rounds) on the hideous bastard.

But just as expected.

"It only littered him with small holes."

Immediately after that I ran, I ran as fast I could. Hoping that I might outrun this unknown type bastard in the process but just as you could imagine I was just hoping.

The bastard was pissed, it threw a quick tantrum, and its tentacles were swinging everywhere. Vertical slits could be seen on the ground, a large crater was formed after it let out a deafening roar.

I think I just threw my chance of running away safely.

~o~

My name is Woljek.

I am a bear, or so it seems to be one.

Really I am just fucking with you.

I am a man currently sitting on my wooden bench placed in front of my wooden house trying my best not to be intimidated with the comical scene that I am currently watching.

You see, I am an old guy. No I am not talking about my age. I am talking about my likes. I like old music for example that is enough for me to classify myself as an old guy. I like living in the mountains as well. You could feel the strong winds in the afternoon, experience the warm and beautiful sunrise and sunsets. The region that I am currently on is abundant of pine trees and hipgrass, which I personally name.

In the mountains I've met travelers and offer them on taking some rest on my home for the night and would sometimes exchange topics like how to fuck a blonde women outdoors or how to fuck a chick in the bushes. Small things like that to make the conversation fresh.

"What in a world is she doing?" I said to myself as I singlehandedly emptied my red wine.

What am I watching you might ask? Well I am currently watching a female soldier, I am sure that soldier is a female since she had this prominent chest, shooting a Nashorn with her puny little gun.

Of course she is doing no damage to the Nashorn since the Nashorn has thick armor and eight long tentacles that could slice a Leopard A600 tank in two pieces.

Wow look at that jiggling bosom.

It's kinda surprising how she was able to move fast with that much weight on her chest. I wonder if she took some posture training to fix that imbalance. When I am talking about imbalance, I am talking about how prominent her chest was and how small her body figure is.

I think she is five feet and seven inches? Or seven inches short? Nah, that can't be.

Using my scope I peered over her body from top to bottom.

Yep, she is five feet and seven inches tall.

"Ooh, that's a cool looking helmet."

She was wearing a metallic helmet that had a T-shaped visor. Now, that's a beautiful looking gun. It had an elongated drum magazine and a bullpup configuration. It had an ACOG sight as primary sight and whenever she would fire at the Nashorn I could see blue tracers here and there.

Maybe I should help her?

Nah, I'm not a generous man. I am narcissistic, well how rare for me to admit that. Anyway let's continue spying on this soldier.

The soldier fell to the ground pointing its barrel at the Nashorn. The Nashorn used its tentacles to attack the soldier from above, a plunging attack so to say.

Miss—

Miss—

Miss—

The Nashorn is missing the soldier. Well I cannot blame the Nashorn since its eyes are placed at the side of that triangular head. The soldier was exploiting the blindspot of the Nashorn, pretty smart but—

The Nashorn used its front limbs, raised it upwards and then slams it to the ground making a strong resonance on the ground. Smoke and dust rose up at the air making a natural camouflage around the Nashorn and the unlucky soldier.

"Did she die?" I asked unknowingly.

Then the female soldier emerged out first before being flowed by the Nashorn from behind.

Then suddenly the soldier stopped, a small white canister was thrown into the air….wait a minute that's a flashbang!

I immediately closed my eyes out, unconsciously. Thanks to Special Forces training for that unconscious quick response.

Slowly I opened my eyes and saw the female soldier rodeoing the Nashorn. The Nashorn thrashed around trying its best to remove the female soldier from its back. It even resorted on using its own tentacles to attack the female soldier.

"It's even plunging its sharp tentacles on its flat head."

One, two, six. The Nashorn plunged its sharp tentacles on its head each attack was able to penetrate its thick overhead armor.

Right, I almost forgot. Nashorn's are quite stupid.

With a loud last growl the Nashorn rose its steep nose into the air before collapsing its body on the ground. The female soldier was thrown down to the ground meeting it face first.

Such a wild woman indeed, she was able to defeat that Nashorn by exploiting its idiotic brain. The female soldier then stood up from the ground and started tapping her pants and shoulders.

"Ah, shit"

The Nashorn stood up from the ground and used a single front limb to attack the female soldier. With a single quick exhale and swift motion I pulled the trigger of my sniper rifle, aiming straight at the Nashorn's nose, its obvious weak spot.

The projectile hit dead center. The Nashorn stopped before it could even reach the female soldier. Then a following thug sound echoed across the entire region.

Still peering on my scope I saw the female soldier remove her helmet and examined the Nashorn, her expression filled with bafflement.

The woman had dark long hair that was tied into a pony tail and had a typical Asian face features like slit eyes and white skin, though not so white like mine.

She was turning around, trying her best to guess where that shot came from. She then stopped and looked at my direction. She had her eyes squinted a bit, must've been because of the sun that's currently beside the house.

When you think about it, that Asian looking female soldier is kinda beautiful! She's like a cold hearted female dominant that would pummel me if I refused her order….. **IF ONLY SHE IS TALLER THAN ME DAMMIT**!

But that's fine, I digress a little bit. Ah, she's coming this way.

Should I relocate now and leave my clothes behind? Commander Rommel did order me to take some vacation on the Austrian mountains so that I wouldn't have a mental breakdown. But he is just worrying too much, this wooden house too even belongs to the Commander himself, what a man indeed.

Anyway, it seems like this woman is approaching me with haste. I now need to make sure that I look cool and ominous.


	29. Extra Chapter 29-A

**My love for my Aircraft Carrier**

Sortie here; sortie there every single day I would be sortied to the vast frontier. Wearing my brown pilot's vest I would immediately rush towards my A7M2 Reppu and would wait for hours and hours until the time for my squadron to be sortied.

And whenever we are sortied however, we knew that the situation is bad.

One sortie in particular had our numbers on a staggering disadvantage. A single pilot against 10 Abyssal Hellcats, the fleet was really on a big disadvantage.

Couple of shipgirls then and there was doing their best to fend off the abyssal attack. My fighter squadron composed of ten pilots was easily eradicated and I was the only one that managed to land back on the flight deck.

The look of my _woman's_ face when she saw the number of pilots coming back alive pained my heart. Her warm and cheerful smile was gone and the only thing that was painted all over it was despair and guilt.

Did I really do my job right on protecting her and her fleet? Did I do my very best to bring back my squadron in one piece?

Repeating those words over and over in my head, but I actually knew what the answer was. The thing is...I was just not acknowledging it.

That was years ago, right now I am currently returning back to my woman after an hour long reconnaissance mission. After giving her my landing signal I slowly descended towards her flight deck and successfully landed. I turned off my engine and opened my cockpit and saw a maintenance personnel hurriedly checking the plane's exterior. I got out of from the plane and slowly walked towards the hangar elevators before heading immediately towards my squadron cabin. With a squeaking sound the steel doors opened revealing an empty room.

There are five bunks in double bed configuration, mine's located at the farthest one. Slowly I approached my bunk whilst removing my brown flak jacket that I always wear during sortie. I felt tired, really tired, my fingers were sore and my eyes were twitching uncontrollably from overuse.

No, my _woman_ didn't force me to sortie on a hour long reconnaissance mission. I did it on my own accord. After all, I need to somehow do something about this tingling feeling inside of me.

I slowly closed my eyes and drifted into the abyss. It was a fleeting fleeing, with your eyes closed you could feel the twitching slowly subsiding. My back was facing the ceiling of the upper bed, I could feel my breathing slowly turning into a couple of short pauses as time passes.

And before long, I didn't even realize that I was already asleep.

"All fighter pilots are to sortie now! This is not a drill! All fighter pilots are to sortie now! Torpedo bombers and Dive bombers after!"

And just like that, her deep voice called me from my slumber like an alarm clock. I could hear the wake of an ongoing naval battle just outside my squadron quarters.

I hurriedly got up from my bunk and grabbed my flak vest as well as my leather flight helmet that I accidentally crushed by my own weight.

I ran and ran towards the lower hangar where fighter pilots were already performing their last checks before entering their planes. I was the last one to arrive before other pilots belonging from a different group form up behind me.

"Miyamoto, your plane is on arrow one. You'll be sortieing with Green 1 as of this day!" A maintenance worker shouted ahead of the long line of pilots awaiting their turn to hop on their planes.

Just as the maintenance worker said I was now formally transferred to Fighter Group Green 1. It was a newly formed fighter group that just came out of pilot school.

I immediately hurdled my way towards the front where a metal staircase could be seen in front of the line leading to the _launching area_. I could see the faces of the new pilots who were waiting for me to meet up with them.

Green 1 is has three sub squadrons of units so to say. That's Green 1-1, Green 1-2, and lastly Green 1-3. I was selected to be part of Green 1-3, as a squadron leader of 1-3.

The group leader or also called Flight Commander was named Shirogami Hageki. An old looking man that had a small mustache and a slit eye that you would have mistaken that he is sleeping. He was giving orders to the young pilots about the new addition of the group, which was me.

"2nd Lieutenant Miyamoto Amagi" I said with a plain tone.

The young pilots only nodded towards me after I stated my name. Before long the green light was lit above us indicating that our _woman_ is about to launch the first group which is unfortunately us.

My plane was slotted unfortunately at the back once again. With that said I waited for the young pilot in front of me to enter his plane before I enter mine. Using my dominant hand I grabbed the outside hook of the cockpit and pulled my body inside. Using my other hand I made sure to attach the newly developed radio around my neck placed the transmitter on my right just below my acceleration lever.

A maintenance worker then showed up right beside me and performed a couple of checks on the flaps, rudder, and so on.

The maintenance worker then gave me a _thumbs up gesture_ before jumping away from my view. Using my dominant hand once again I grabbed this small latch that was riveted underneath the glass canopy and slid it forward to close the cockpit.

I could see the white sky in front of me. It was littered with black clouds and a couple of Hellcats passing by. It was at this time that I realized how close the enemy was.

We were on a tilted position in a somewhat 60 degree angle. I was fortunate enough to be placed at the black and was sitting upright unlike the new pilot that is currently underneath my plane, who is sitting upside down.

Unconsciously I tapped my fingers on the _engine start_ button but not applying too much force that would actually activate the igniter.

We waited, and waited, and waited until a random shell found its mark on our _woman's_ back tearing a hole that's three inches in diameter.

"Shoukaku!" I yelled unknowingly to the point that I was already leaning forwards constantly pressing the _ready for lunch_ button in front of my instruments.

Usually the RFLB button is only available for the Flight Commander's Plane but due to the fact that I was formerly the flight commander of the now disbanded 12th Fighter Group, although the group has already disbanded I was still able to keep my plane although I already lost my rank as a flight commander.

After abusing the button a couple of times I could see Shoukaku's hand covered in blood reaching towards us. Slowly, Shoukaku hoisted us to her bow and placed the string of her bow on the slit just behind me.

I could see her pale face breathing horridly as she put excess force to pull the string at maximum stress.

I looked at her with a worried expression. She glanced towards me with her brown eyes and showed a warm smile.

"A Wo-class carrier is spotted around eleven kilometers from our current position. I want this fighter group to deny her the opportunity of receiving her retreating bombers by intercepting them. I could only send three fighter groups as of now, so please everyone in this fighter group. Do your best to intercept the Wo-class' bombers and fighters as much as you can until the Bomber groups arrive to finish her off." Shoukaku said in a faint tone.

"We'll give her a beating, I promise you this Shoukaku!" I gave her my most determined look that I could do and yelled inside my plane.

"Miyamoto, please don't be reckless okay?" Shoukaku smiled and said those words at me before releasing the stressed string launching us in supersonic speeds.

It only took us four seconds before FC. Hageki ordered everyone to deform the formation. After pressing the _detach button_ I hurried used the rudder to break away from the arrow and pressed the _ignition_ button to start up the engines.

With a loud ruffle the engines heated up and before long my plane was already flying on its own.

The new pilots also successfully detached themselves from formation and had already formed up to their own squadrons.

"Green 1-3, this is Green Actual form up on me." I said via radio.

"Green 2, already on standby."

"Green 3, already on standby."

"Green 4, already on standby."

"Green 5, already on standby."

"Green 6, currently having engine problems but I am on standby."

I glanced to my sides and saw the pilots that belong to my squadron. Although I do not know their names I will be utilizing their callsigns as much as I can.

"Alright, maintain present course in V-shape formation. We need to catch up with Green's 1-1 and 1-2 as soon as possible." I announced.

I receive no reply so took that as an indication of _yes_ out of speculation. It was not a moment too soon that we saw the Wo-class carrier with a To-class cruiser and an unknown class destroyer trailing behind it approximately 8,000 feet below us.

"This is Green 1-1 Actual, approaching Wo-class carrier and To-class cruiser in angles 1-4 bearing 1-9-9." A deep male's voice was received by my radio.

"Green 1-1, this is Green 1-3 Actual. Approaching bearings 1-9-9 and angles 1-4, how copy?" I replied.

"Solid copy"

"This is Green 1-2 Actual, Abyssal Hell Dive Bombers at angles 3-2, bearings 9-2!"

I immediately raised my head and saw a squadron of Abyssal Hell Dive Bombers above us. Using my non-dominant hand I hurriedly pulled the hanging part of my breathing mask and attached it on a magnetic metal on my leather flight helmet. I could feel my breathing increasing erratically as slowly raised my speed to maximum, bleeding the potential energy that I managed to store from Shoukaku's supersonic launch just to reach the Abyssal Hell Diver Bombers above us.

"Scramble angles 3-2! Above us!" I yelled on the radio.

Green's 4 and 5 followed my lead and also pointed their nose upward to reach the Hell Divers from below. At 200 meters I squeezed the trigger of my combat stick or joystick and a burst of 20mm rounds of IRHE (Incendiary Rounds High Explosive) rounds tore a hole at Hell Diver's circular shape.

I scratched one, I said to myself passing my way at the burning Hell Diver that I just took down. Glancing to my side Green's 4, 5 and 6 also got their first kill.

The Hell Divers immediately scrambled from formation. I was already tailing one after my recent kill and immediately took it down after a short burst.

In just a short time window I managed to scratch six Hell Divers in three pass. Glancing to my side I saw Green 5 leveling beside me.

"Got 3!" Green 5 shouted at the radio.

He was giving me a visible three finger gesture with his hand. I was about to reply with my own kill when suddenly a Abyssal Bearcat fighter swooped down from above, instantly vaporizing Green 5 in a single pass.

I immediately stepped on the right rudder turning the nose of the plane towards the rear of the Bearcat's large figure and started chasing it.

"Bearcats!" Someone shouted from the radio.

Abyssal Bearcat Fighters are tier 3 enemy fighters that had a robust circular figure, a large mouth and a white surface. They mainly fire 20mm rounds from their large mouths and could outperform a Type 0 Zero-52 during turns. These Bearcats are also excellent in energy fighting as well as turn fighting, both are the most common aerial combat style amongst common aerial combat styles.

In fact these Bearcats are so rare to encounter that the last time I saw one was during the Battle of Iwo Jima two years ago.

One weakness of these Bearcats however—

"They tend to spin out of control if one their ears are shot-off."

Slowly I trailed my orange crosshair and added a little bit of lead since it was performing a dive. Just before I could put pressure on the trigger the Bearcat suddenly performed a sharp right turn completely evading my line of fire.

I tried realigning my aim but if I force it even further I could have my wings ripped off due to the sharp turn and high speed.

Unable to realign my aim I just kept my attention fixated on the Bearcat and followed it on a low angle.

"Regroup! I said regroup goddammit!" Yelled someone from the radio.

I glanced back to my left and saw balls of fire falling from the sky. Yells of help and calls of being shot upon were repeating over and over that it slapped me on the face as a wakeup call saying that I am currently grouped up with a newly formed Fighter Group.

It was just not a single Bearcat though, there are hundreds of them chasing after FC. Hageki's squadron. Unfortunately for me, I am currently flying on a low altitude and with my current slow speed and bleed out energy I could reach their positions to help them.

Slowly, slowly, slowly but surely the radio chatter almost came to a total silence. And by the time I reached their former positions. I was the only one remaining flying on the blue sky.

"How?" I said to myself.

How am I going to keep the Wo-class at bay all alone?

Cautiously I rotated my view around the cockpit trying to get a spot on a diving Bearcat. But there seems to be none, which is strange.

I got myself flying in parallel with some thick clouds around 8,000 feet and stayed in cruising speed there for about twenty minutes when suddenly I saw a slit opening between two small clouds revealing a small fleet of heavily wounded Wo-class carrier, and an undamaged To-class cruiser.

How the hell did the Wo-class managed to get herself wounded when I didn't even received a hail indicating that the bomber groups have arrived at the battle zone.

Was it because I was too narrow minded to reach 10,000 feet that I didn't realize that the bomber groups have already reached their targets and there were no fighters present to screen them?

I was faced with such confliction that I was urged to break intercom silence but at the last second stopped my urges when I remembered Shoukaku's state before I got here.

Here lonely warm smile resurfaced in my head. I remember the blood coming from her head wound trailing from her white hair to her right eye. How she didn't flinched when the blood reached her right eye…..how she focused all her attention towards, us.

"No" I said to myself.

I can't just risk it. Shoukaku already received enough damage in this battle alone. Her fleet could've escaped the ranges of the Abyssal Bombers, I couldn't risk the fact that if I break intercom silence now, I would run the risk of announcing my own position as well as Shoukaku's fleet.

Having decided not to break intercom silence I stayed in the clouds for another 10 minutes, stalking the Wo-class carrier's fleet that was heading southeast.

If I remember correctly, approximately 60 kilometers from my current position resides Taiwan. A small island nation that's 13,976 square miles wide and is located 120 kilometers from mainland China.

In between that 120 kilometer gap is Route 47, which is a shipping route for the cargo ships from China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. If that Wo-class' fleet reaches Route 47 the unarmed cargo ships would be raided by Abyssal Bombers…..

I need to do something about this…

I felt my hands trembling for the first time in a long while.

My hands trembled at the control stick. I glanced at my remaining fuel, I only had 10 minutes of remaining fuel. My ammo counter is also at its all-time low….

I was not in a position to take out the Wo-class carrier as well as the To-class cruiser.

There was this faint stillness inside of me when realized the position that I was thrown in. I am low in fuel and ammo, I have two big targets sailing 10,000 feet below me. One is a carrier and another is a cruiser.

The most dangerous one is the carrier since I discovered that the carrier is currently armed with Bearcats and Hell Divers. Those planes will destroy those cargo ships that are currently sailing in Route 47.

With a click of my tongue I have decided on what to do. And I knew pretty well that Shoukaku wouldn't be happy for thing that I am going to do right now.

With my left hand I immediately pulled the acceleration level and activated my WEP or Wartime Emergency Power. With the control stick I pulled it backward going in with a steep nose dive.

300 kph, 430 kph, the speed kept on increasing. All in all my aim sight is aligned on the Wo-class carrier's opened hangar.

I do not have a bomb on my plane nor have an explosive belt on my cannons. What I only have is a plane that has 10 minutes of fuel left and has an accelerating speed reaching 700 kph.

At 2000 feet my plane was already starting to vibrate, compression is breaking in. The extreme G-force that I am experiencing was so immense that my vision was already hued in deep red.

My instruments were out of control, it was not long before the plane would start to break itself apart. But I will not let that happen, I will sink that carrier no matter that cost.

Reaching 883 kph, I saw the Wo-class carrier's shocked expression. Her purple eyes were wide open as well as her mouth, she did not expect me to be diving in.

Her hands were stuck on her cane, she was having trouble on what to do. But I knew what I was going to do.

The distance closed in, the hanger was open for the taking.

Shoukaku, I am sorry. But it seems I won't be coming home…

* * *

 **December 3, 2050**

 **After Operation Battle Report for Sortie 1140.**

 **Flagship: Standard Carrier Shoukaku**

 **Fleet: Emergency Detachment 7**

 **Remarks;**

 **Sortie 1140 is an emergency sortie ordered by Combined Fleet Admiral Goto. Emergency Detachment 7 was sent near Taiwan to escort an important cargo from Taiwan with its arrival to the Korea expected to be at December 10th. Sortie 1140 ended in failure with most of the cargo ships as well as the ship containing the important cargo sunk. One carrier was only heavily damaged and two others were lightly damaged.**

 **Battle Results;**

 **Standard Carrier Shoukaku [Heavily Damaged]**

 **Light Cruiser Noshiro [Light Damage]**

 **Destroyer Wakaba [Light Damage]**

 **Ryuusei Kai Planes lost [30]**

 **Reppu Planes Lost [42]**

 **Suisei Planes Lost [24]**

 **Total Fairy Casualties:**

 **347 Personnel KIA**

 **96 Pilots KIA**

 **453 Other Personnel WIA**


	30. Allure

**Allure**

With a faint smile on his face he pulled her closer and gave her the signal. The woman saw this signal and only nodded at the man who was wearing a black tuxedo.

"You may now kiss the bride."

And not a second too soon the two newlywed couple gave each other a passionate kiss. It was so passionate that the priest could only walk away after saying the famous last words.

"I wish I am that man."

"Me too"

Situated just 150 meters from the destroyed church, that had its insides exposed, two soldiers carrying a body bag uttered their remarks after witnessing the wedding first hand.

"I mean we could just kidnap her and kindly ask her to give us a passionate kiss like that." Vas said with a faint voice.

"Nah, I would probably drug her first before dragging her body on a nearby secluded area and kindly ask her for a passionate kiss." Val shared his.

"Would you please kindly put that body bag inside the incinerator already!?" Ursa had enough of this banter and decided to throw small projectiles at the two questionable soldiers who were having a very questionable topic regarding their mental stability.

"Stop throwing rocks dammit!" Vas yelled back releasing the body bag before picking up a pair of small rocks on the ground.

Because of that, Val was the only one carrying the body bag and failed to keep it away from the ground. With a wet thud the body bag fell to the ground and red fluids slowly poured out like ketchup.

"Fucking hell Vas!" Val shouted, pining Vas on the ground.

"What the fuck is going on?! Val, get the fuck away from Vas already!" Lomo finally arrived and tried separating the two.

Lomo wanted to ask questions regarding the sudden fistfight but then he saw the body bag left alone on the ground with the fluids inside slowly pouring out. That was enough for him to make a makeshift idea why the two fought.

"The two of you get that body bag in the incinerator already. We still have 80 more body bags to burn and they aren't going to turn ash on their own!"

"We could just leave them on the road and let the rats or mother nature do the hard work." Vas muttered as he sat on a pile of rubble.

"Now look closely here. We are ordered to burn these dead bodies by Colonel Gertud Himmer of the Austrian Royal Guard. It is my duty to keep a close eye on you soldiers to do your job and if one of those said royal guards saw one of us not doing our job they could kill on the spot. You wouldn't want to die in Europe right?" Lomo's voice was so cold and direct.

Vas swallowed his words and just pointed a finger at Val. Not a second too soon the two of them finally shoved the body bag inside the incinerator.

"If I ever see another fistfight, I will personally shove the two of you inside the incinerator you hear?" Lomo left with those remarks and headed straight to the village square.

His footsteps were quick and heavy, the sounds of rubble crushing and the yells of help were overloading his ears. But Lomo fixated his attention in front of him and treated those around him as a backdrop.

The screams of pain and agony were getting louder and louder as Lomo approach the village square. But Lomo kept it to himself, he kept it to himself how he felt nauseated and affected by the scene he is seeing.

"Sergeant, your I.D please." A royal guard offered his hand towards Lomo.

Lomo nodded and took his I.D from his breast pouch and gave it to the royal guard. The royal guard had his arm bandaged with black cloth and his helmet a bit dinted on the right side. Despite all of these the royal guard still guarded the entrance of the village square.

"You may pass." The royal guard uttered.

Lomo took his I.D card and waited for the steel gate to open.

"Please let me inside. I need food. I need shelter. I need to find my family." A man behind him yelled and pleaded the wounded royal guard.

"Able bodied civilians are not allowed in the village square. Stand down or I will be forced to shoot!" The wounded royal guard yelled back pushing the male civilian away from the gate.

 _Keep it to yourself, keep it to yourself, keep it to yourself, keep it to yourself_ —

"Stop!" The royal guard yelled.

The male civilian rushed forward slipping in between the metal gate and headed straight to the village square.

It was not long before the male civilian ran passed Lomo who was looking at the asphalt. Keeping his opinion to himself and let the male civilian ran pass him.

10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet; the male civilian ran and ran but stopped right at the 35th mark. A single gunfire could be hear from his back, the close proximity whizzing sound that the bullet made when it passes Lomo and the echoing _tack_ when the bullet hit the male civilian's back.

Lomo stopped for a full minute when he saw the male civilian collapsed to the ground when the bullet hit its back. A single bullet was enough to stop the man, a single bullet was enough to take away the life of an innocent civilian.

"What are you doing?! Why didn't you stop him?!" A royal guard stopped by him and yelled those words in English before running towards the deceased civilian.

Lomo stood there and saw how three royal guards carried the body of the dead civilian on a nearby bush and left it there. The three royal guards then focused their attention towards him. A glint of hatred could be seen on their eyes.

"I did nothing wrong." Lomo said to himself as he watched where the civilian was thrown.

With faint steps he walked forward. He walked forward towards the destination that he wants to be.

~o~

"Lomo! Good now that you're here. Help me with treat her wounds!" Etnaz was sitting on a wooden chair when he saw Lomo entering the Hospital Tent.

Lomo paused for a second staring at the grunting young lady on the wooden table with her two legs dismembered and the left severed leg was the only one currently bandaged.

"Lomo? What's wrong?" Etnaz called to him again.

This time Etnaz successfully caught Lomo's attention. On the other hand Lomo only shook his head and hurriedly walked towards Etnaz who was performing mild surgery on the wounded young lady.

"Give me the scalpel you forgot to remove this shrapnel." Lomo hurriedly said whilst putting surgical gloves on his hands.

"Well unlike you, I didn't finish my doctor's degree back when I was still young." Etnaz replied moving away from the table and stretched his hands upward.

With the chair available Lomo hurriedly sat on the wooden chair and performed the surgery that Etnaz already started. With a faint sigh, Lomo removed the pressure strap from the lady's thigh and removed the shrapnel using a curved puller.

The lady grunted as the wound that Etnaz closed reopens. Blood poured out of the lady's thigh as Lomo re-strapped the pressure strap around the lady's thigh once more.

"You even forgot to properly close the wound!" Lomo yelled.

"I was called immediately by Doctor Lumina when she said she wanted me to help her with a surgery but immediately after I entered the tent she was called out because of an urgent business. So I was forced to do surgery on her." Etnaz replied as he took another batch of surgical strings from the closet and a plastic pack full of anesthesia and syringe.

"Still, do your job right! You're lucky that this one is not dead yet. Did you do that?" Lomo pointed a finger that the already wrapped left thigh of the lady.

"Nope, Doc Lumina did that one." Etnaz shook his head and sat on a spare chair behind Lomo and gave him the fresh syringe and anesthesia.

"Well that's one problem out of the window." Lomo replied with a sigh as he finally closed the reopened wound.

Etnaz stared at Lomo's who was performing the surgery on his own. Like an observer he watched and tried helping Lomo without a word ever uttered.

"So why did you quit?" Lomo softly spoke.

"Quit being a doctor student?"

"Yeah"

Etnaz stared at the wound that Lomo was stitching. The blood was covering Lomo's blue surgical gloves like water. The white nylon strings that Lomo used to close the wound were covered in blood, blood, blood.

"I failed an exam. And it was just there that my family decided that I should quit being a doctor." Etnaz calmly replied.

"Eh, is that so? Well for the record I finished my degree when I was already 31." Lomo replied.

"Still I did not expect that you are this old Lomo. Even older than LT." Etnaz made a faint chucker.

"I am nowhere near him. He might be an idiot but he is a good leader in some way, despite being young." Lomo replied.

Memories flashing back during the defensive firefight last year appeared on Lomo's head. How Fustaku was able to rally up the remaining soldiers of Una Company after losing almost a third of their former numbers and the loss of their Captain.

"Though he is not a natural leader he is still the good one out there." Lomo faintly added.

"Speaking of LT. Where do you think he is now?"

"Probably doing something stupid somewhere where Engineer Holland sent him." Lomo replied wrapping a bandage around the lady's right thigh.

Using a clip Lomo fastens the bandage and raised his body from his former sitting position. He then took a glance at the sleeping lady and placed two fingers at the lady's arm.

"She's still alive, she'll wake up later. Anyway how's the casualty list on our side?" Lomo turned his attention to Etnaz.

"Six wounded and two got their limbs cut-off. We still haven't received Akashi's healing compound which is a problem and I received a letter from her as well indicating that we must refrain from being over dependent with it." Etnaz replied with a low tone.

Lomo removed his surgical gloves and threw them on a black plastic bag adjacent to the wooden table. He gave thought about Akashi's warning about not being too dependent with it. He remembered how Fustaku was able to relive his life using the healing compound, despite the fact that he died shortly after his body was transported back to Yokosuka after their night operation on Kyushu. Either way, that healing compound revived their dead commanding officer like it was nothing; not being too depended with it is just—

"Still did she share a reason why we should refrain?" Lomo asked.

"She didn't share any additional information regarding this. If you want the letter I have it over here—"

"Nah, its fine…..still why is she giving us this kind of warning?" Lomo placed a hand on his chin.

It can't be that Akashi is running low of the said healing compound, there has to be another reason why such a warning was uttered. But Lomo can't think of another reason to stop relying on the healing compound.

"You know what. We should follow Akashi's warning for now and wait for further information. She is the inventor of this said healing compound after all." Lomo says scratching the back of his head as he failed to find a reason why they were given a warning.

"Nuff said. The platoon is currently resting on tent 72 if you want to tell them about this since I haven't told them about it." Etnaz added.

"Alright, let's go. We need to debrief them about this. But first, I need you to fetch Vas, Val, and Ursa at 11th street. Make sure that they finished incinerating the 80 body bags alright?"

"Got it." Etnaz nodded and headed out of the tent.

Lomo turned his gaze towards the lady and wondered. The lady was wearing a one piece dress with a jean looking shorts. Her one piece dress had a hued blue and her brown sleeves were torn a bit. Then it clicked it him like a lighter.

"She's the one who saved a young girl from the kindergarten building …." Lomo muttered.

~o~

"Supposed he and the other pilot manage to destroy the abyssal on their own what will you do then?" A man wearing a Prussian blue uniform entered the room where countless monitors are lit up.

"What else would you like me to do? Of course I would give him a reward." A man wearing a blue maintenance outfit replied.

"What would that be?"

"Of course, a trip into the Europa Line of course"

There was this faint silence engulfing the two of them. The officer looked crudely at the _engineer_ clearly showing disgust to the answer that he received.

"He's a soldier that is meant to be on the Far East not in this theater." The officer said.

The _engineer_ somehow was looking laidback. He had his feet placed on top of the terminal and his hands wrapped behind his head. He had a cigar on his mouth and a notepad placed on his stomach.

"Oh please, don't give me that patriotic shit. A soldier is still a soldier; my _best friend_ gave me this platoon of course I would use them to the fullest." The engineer replied.

It was at this moment that the officer had enough banter with this crooked man and decided to get out of this smoke odor room that they called the control room. Satellite footage revealing the state of the two titans and their pilots could be seen on one of those large monitors. Unknown personnel were watching them closely, writing reports on a small sheet of paper as well as tapping the controls on the terminal.

"You better make sure that….this isn't going to bite you in the ass."

"Of course it won't, Colonel Hinder." The engineer replied.

Slowly Colonel Hinder opened the door and exited the control room. Leaving behind the engineer who was still stuck on his laidback position, the engineer then lowered his feet from the terminal and pressed a purple button his terminal.

"Come-on, Pilot 4 stop dying already and get up." He muttered his expression cramped in disbelief.

~o~

I said it to myself not too long ago. I told myself that I was going to make a story about my life. A story about a simple soldier like me, who was stuck on a foreign country and how I was able to live my life after being stuck there.

I said to myself, this is a love story not a dramatic one. But as it turns out…..it seems that I can't stay true to my words anymore.

"Operator!"

The more I stare at the gray sky the more I wonder why I was put in this situation in the first place. Just faintly, I could hear explosions popping here and there. The muffled sounds of shrapnel and unknown objects whizzing its way pass me and the vivid motion of the ground shaking was keeping me conscious.

"Operator!"

The more I put it that way the more I forget that I am currently at deaths door. My right arm is severed from my shoulder. I had six penetration wounds on my torso and lower body. I no longer had any ammo reserves on my pouches and my new rifle is destroyed when a sudden explosion erupted below my makeshift foxhole.

"Operator!"

Faintly, just faintly I let out my last batch of sighs as I accepted the fact that I am dying once more. It came to me actually…..didn't I already died not too long ago?

How many times have I died already? Once, twice, thrice? Probably even more, I just did not realize it by then.

"Come-on, Pilot 4 stop dying already and get up."

Easy for you to say—

I wonder where that voice came from. I do remember that I am wearing a pilot helmet that is connected to a private channel in a military base in Austria.

Seriously, why the hell am I transferred in Austria when my fight is located at the Far East? I am called an Asian for that very reason….An Asian like me is supposed to be in Asia not in Europe.

"Ermest!"

Well isn't that my name being called? Isn't that a weird name? I actually thought it was a weird name. Why you might ask? Because it sounds forced than most names like Joshua, Ervin, or probably even John. My name is like a misspelled Ernest that I actually though my mother misspelled my name on my birth certificate.

"Ermest, I swear to god. Get the fuck up or the _Hu-types_ are going to eat you like tomato sauce!"

There's this static in my head that's been repeating itself over and over.

It repeated again.

And again—

And again—

[…]

With a rumble, the 25 foot titan peered over its head on a small body figure laying its back on a field packed of brown leaves.

Using its right hand the titan placed it on the ground and lowered its body to protect its _operator_ from harm. With its left hand, slowly the titan grabbed the body of its operator and inserted him inside its cockpit.

Swiftly the titan made a counterclockwise rotation giving its 120mm autocannon the momentum it needs to raise it as quickly as it could to fire upon a charging Cha-type.

Firing in quick six round burst the thick armor plating's around the Cha-type's body were forcibly removed by the intense velocity in which the 120mm projectile was fired. One hitting the Cha-type's right shoulder, another on its belly, another on its left arm, another on its head, another on the neck, and the last one is on its core located at the Cha-type's underarm.

The Cha-type immediately fell on the ground with a loud growl. Seconds' later smaller abyssals like the Hu-types emerged from the bushes and latched on the titan's exoskeleton.

The titan swung its arms left and right trying its best to remove the Hu-types away from its huge figure. The Hu-types were like ants swarming the titan in all directions. It was at this moment that some of the Hu-types were able to damage some of the titan's outer systems like the transmission box as well as the exhaust engine that is responsible for giving the titan enough thrust to move its huge body.

Unable to control the ever increasing number of Hu-types latching on its body the titan did the only thing that it could do when faced in a situation like this.

"Performing Emergency 30" The titan announced in a deep cold robotic voice.

Emergency 30 is a procedural code written on the titan's operating system called Javelin. There are over 90 EPC's or Emergency Procedural Code written in scripts inside Javelin. Each of those EPC has a specific procedure in which a titan would perform on certain situation.

The EPC-30 in particular talks about breaking free from an overwhelming sheer number of humanoids latched on said exoskeleton.

From a static position the titan immediate broke out into a quick dash and into a roll by lowering its right shoulder and raising its legs up into the air. The unfortunate Hu-types that were latched all over the titan were either thrown away by the sheer G-force or crushed by the titan's weight.

Either way the titan was able to remove majority of the Hu-types that were giving it a headache.

The titan then immediately pulled a cylindrical canister that is four feet high and two feet wide from its thigh compartment and crushed it using both of its hands.

The Hu-type threat was still not yet over so to prevent the Hu-types from latching on its exoskeleton again the titan performed the second phase of the EPC-30.

"Deploying Electromagnetic Dome"

With a dark purple hue a 10,000 volt dome surrounded the titan like a tesla shield, vaporizing the Hu-types that were optimistic enough to think that they could harass the titan's soft spots again.

With the ED activated the titan unholstered his 120mm autocannon and started picking off the Hu-types that were surrounding the titan's ED from a safe distance.

It took the titan around a minute to finally mop-up the remaining stragglers that managed break contact.

After making sure that the perimeter was safe the titan let out a distress signal before lowering its 120mm autocannon.

With a faint rumbling noise the titan lowered its body into a squat and grabbed a small cylindrical object from its upper body hidden behind a small compartment underneath the supposed to be chest part. The titan then aligns it to an insertion tub, turning it clockwise before pushing it inside the cockpit.

"Activating Revival Procedure"

With a cowered position Fustaku's body was surrounded by lime green gas, it was an organic gas and when it touches his skin the lime green gas then turned into liquid before being absorbed by his body.

"Gwuahaaa!"

A hand immediately ran towards his neck as Fustaku gasped for air, removing his helmet from his head and threw it to the side. With long pauses Fustaku removed his hands from his neck and leaned his back on cockpit's seat.

"What the fuck." Fustaku cursed glancing at the regenerated arm that he lost not too long ago.

It was back to normal, the same skin tone, same finger length, same arm length and the same shaking hand minus the cloth that supposed to be covering it.

"Goddammit!" Fustaku cursed once more slamming his right hand on the controls beside him, denting the metal plates that were keeping the controls in place.

"Operator, welcome back." A male robotic voice echoed inside the cockpit.

"Welcome back, my ass." Fustaku yelled.

"So how was your trip in hell, Operator?" The titan replied.

Fustaku, having recovered his lack of H2O, grabbed the pilot helmet that he threw to the side slowly slid his head inside the tightly fit helmet.

"Don't joke around like that." Fustaku replied.

Using his dominant hand Fustaku took the liberty to check the damage reports that were waiting for his assessment on his HUD.

His titan received multiple exterior damage such as lighting cables severed as well as some damage sensors that were too damaged for light repairs.

"Well who do you think was the one who decided to shrug off my warning and decided to hunker down near the river?" The titan replied its tone becoming pompous.

"Look, I know that I was wrong for shrugging off your warning and deserve to meet my demise there but you don't have to be that pompous towards me." Fustaku complained.

"Operator you misunderstand, every word that is uttered by my voice does not have any emotion weighted on it. So if you feel _insecure_ by the way I talk then the reason must be because you are just an asshole." The titan replied.

"Fine, call me like that and what not. _If_ you talk to me like that again, I will personally dispose you myself."

"Not if I don't dispose you first. You mustn't forget that you are inside me and I am not inside you. I have the upper hand you and you don't."

Fustaku decided to shut-up and let the _tincan_ win this one. After all, this titan just won one argument and there are others more coming soon, Fustaku said to himself.

"Anyway have you received the data from the sensor that I threw on the water?"

"Affirmative and the results are…..the target abyssal is not present there."

"So I died for no reason at all?"

"Precisely" The titan replied.

Fustaku wondered how, how could that colossal abyssal avert his attention. According to the classification data that Admiral Goto had on his laptop, a _Walking Airfield_ -type abyssal is around 25 to 40 feet tall. If that is the case he should have seen the abyssal by now.

"We've been in the target area for two hours now. We didn't even receive a single transmission from Sel." Fustaku muttered.

"Not too long ago we did pick up a couple of gunshots from the horizon." The titan replied.

"True, have you finished tracing the origin of that gunfire?"

"Already finished, so should be go there and investigate?" The titan asked.

Fustaku wondered if it is okay to be wondering around the woods looking for the origin of the said gunfire and just placing the main objective as secondary. Still he did perform the first task that he was given which is reaching Lake Kurso behind the Austrian mountains, the second task though which is the destruction of the walking airfield was still pending for completion.

"Still, I can't just leave Sel by herself on a country that both of us aren't familiarized with. Titan, give me the coordinates we need to reach the origin ASAP."

A second later Fustaku's HUD was updated with the coordinates that the titan was able to trace. Using his dominant hand Fustaku took the nervous system cord and attached it at the back of his helmet.

His helmet HUD faded into darkness and was replaced by the Titan's HUD. A small rectangular map could be seen at the bottom right of the said HUD and with it are the coordinates of the said gunfire as well as the layout of the forest that they are in.

"Fucking hell, I just died four times already." Fustaku let out a remark before accelerating the running speed of the titan at full throttle.

~o~

"Do you really want to do this? I mean doing it on my backyard was fine but doing it in the mountains?"

"I told you its fine. No one will be seeing us doing it here."

Two college students were facing each other on the ground full of brown maple leaves. The male student was above and the female student was underneath him, together they were giving each other a passionate kiss and a warm hug.

The female student slowly lowered both of her hands from the guy's shoulder and into the guy's hip. Slowly the female student unlooses the leather belt and unpins the button of the guy's blue jeans.

The guy noticed this and slowly separated himself from his lover's lips and gave her a suggestive smile.

"Now, you are just being too aggressive." The guy said.

"Come on now, no one is looking. You can go full force with me." The female student replied, her expression turning sly.

The guy took that as the signal and attacked the female student in full force. First giving her a warm kiss at the neck and slowly reaching her bosoms. Slowly the guy unpins the female student's leathered long sleeves and opened it, revealing a bare bosom that was as big as his hands.

"Hmmm~"

The guy then started _gently_ fuddling it staring at the right before finally massaging the left. Slowly he touched the tip of her bosom and pinched it gently, the female student let out a suggestive "Hngg".

Unable to hold it in any longer the guy nursed the female student's right bosom, the female student immediately spasm in euphoria.

"Hmm?"

A tall shadow, a tall shadow suddenly dimmed his view. The guy immediately raised his head upwards fearing that someone has seen them doing it in the woods but he immediately swallowed his doubts when he saw the _thing_ dimming his view.

It was another woman, a tall woman to be exact. She was like doll, white-pale skin, a white one piece dress. She was peering over the couple with distaste and shame.

"Well now, what a prominent body you had there." The guy said unable to remove his gaze from the _white_ woman's prominent silhouette.

The woman did not utter a single word, her gaze was her answer. Her cold-cold gaze that seems to pierce through the guy's woos like it's made of molten steel. The woman was blocking the sun giving the guy a hard time seeing the woman's face.

Slowly the woman lowered her gaze towards the man making sure that the guy could see her face visibly.

The man's luscious smile immediately crumbled when he saw the woman's face. She had white hair and red eyes, one would immediately skip a beat when you saw her beauty. But—

"HAAAA!"

On her chin are long black shards acting as face mask for her lips.

The man immediately pulled back but the _white_ _woman_ in front of him grabbed his face and raised him up in the air with both of her hands clenching the sides of his face.

"HYAAA!" The female student screamed in fear.

The _white woman_ then slams the guy's body to the ground, throwing the brown maple leaves from the ground into the air.

The guy's face was easily crushed by the sheer force, instantly killing him.

"No-No!"

The female student ran, she ran as fast as she could. She only had one destination, her lover's car which was parked not far from their hiding spot.

Still in her messy state the female student eventually arrived to her lover's car. She fumbled, opening the driver's door and immediately entered the car. Using her left hand she hastily pulled the sun visor which was located above the windshield, dropping the keys that were hidden in it.

"Come on! Come on!" The female student yelled unable to start the engine.

"HYA!"

Suddenly the glass window beside her shattered, a white-pale arm grabbed her neck and forcibly pulled her out of the car. She was thrown 15 feet away from the car, slamming her back against a thick tree instantly breaking her hip.

"AHHHH!" The female student screamed as she crawled away from the _white woman._

Eventually the _white woman_ reached her and grabbed her neck using one hand. The female student was raised in the air, leveling her view with the _white woman's_ red eyes.

"Achk!" The female student struggled grabbing the _white woman's_ hand with both of her bleeding hands.

Slowly the _white woman_ touched the shards that were covering her mouth with her other hand. She then forcibly tore then downwards gushing out blood all over.

"Haaaaaaaa" The white woman exhaled.

A smile slowly emerged from the _white woman's_ face. Her red eyes still fixated at the female student.

And just like that, the _white woman_ slams the female student's body to the ground. Pinning both of her hands to the ground and the towering figure of the _white woman_ on top of her.

"Please let me go! Please let me go!"

As _it_ closed in, not a single word was ever uttered again.

Only the screams of agony and pain, as she was slowly being digested, bits by bits.

~o~

"So you are saying that you saw a woman in white?" Sel asked in a dubious tone.

"Like I said, I saw a beautiful woman wearing a white one piece dress. She was looking pale and her eyes were red like a rose. You get me?" A polish special forces agent that goes with a name of Woljek repeated what he said a while ago.

"You know what, I am not buying it." Sel replied throwing away an unidentified part of the human body to the bushes.

Venset, Sel's 25 foot armored titan, peered over the setting that they were in and performed a calibrate-scan around them on a 150 meter radius.

"According to my scans, there seems to be three human figures present here before we arrive." Venset announced with his robotic voice.

"We already found a deceased body of a male just 50 meters from here. And according to the items we found on that car over there, it seems to me that he came here with a female partner." Woljek said his own testament as he took a crushed bone from the ground.

Sel took another glance at the car that was near their current position. The driver's door window was shattered open, blood traces could be seen on one of the small shards that remained on the window. The trail of blood reached towards a bent tree, and in front of that bent tree, a pool of blood could be seen.

And a few more meters from that small pool of blood a larger pool of blood could be seen, in which Sel and Woljek are currently on.

"Did you saw the face of the woman that you so urge about?" Sel suddenly asked.

"Uh no, what I saw is the _white woman_ holding a slender dismembered arm towards the woods north of our position. I only took a wild guess saying, that what the _white woman_ was holding is a woman's slender arm, at that time I haven't seen the contents that were left inside that car over there. But after seeing what was inside, well you could say that my wild guess was spot on." Woljek replied as he stood up from his crouched position and glanced north where the _white woman_ that he saw walked off to.

"Well there is nothing we can do about this. Two deceased civilians in the woods with no clear signs on whom, when, and why they were killed, I'd say that we should let the Austrian Mountain Police to deal with this." Sel announced picking up her StA 409 that was hanging on a small oak tree.

"The mountain police won't even look at this case even when a missing case is reported on their office." Woljek loudly muttered.

"And why is that?" Sel asked.

"Well as you can see, there are rogue Abyssals in these mountains. Last year, there weren't even reports regarding an abyssal sighting. But now, even after the surprise attack on your base that you said a while ago, I'd say that these woods are now infested with them. I'd guess that the Austrian Parliament won't let inexperienced _personnel_ near where the rogue abyssals were last seen...especially in these mountains." Woljek added as he walked towards north.

"And why is a Polish Special Forces agent sent in these woods in the first place?"

"Like what I said to you back at the shack, I was sent here by my commanding officer to take a short vacation since I've been a good agent for him for over two years and he decided that I should take a long shore leave on one of his private shacks on the Austrian Mountains."

Still that didn't convinced Sel who was still a bit hostile at Woljek whom who saved her from death by a rampaging unknown type that Woljek blatantly classify as a Nashorn.

 **"** Hey, Sel, order your titan to perform another calibrate-scan ahead of this direction."

Sel glanced at her titan after hearing Woljek's words. The titan only turned towards her direction and didn't utter a single word.

"And why is that?" Sel asked.

"You really like asking every single thing don't you? Look, just send a compressed calibrate-scan in this direction and tell me if your titan receives something."

"That didn't even answer my question."

With that said Sel threw two fingers towards the direction where Woljek was facing a second later a low reverberating sound was sent ahead of Woljek's direction.

Sel's HUD was then updated with a map update. A single dot could be seen just 250 meters north of their position. 250 meters north is where Sel and her titan landed, that is also where Woljek saved her from the Nashorn.

"There is a presence 250 meters north of our position. That's like where _your_ shack is—"

Before Sel could finish her sentence, Woljek immediately run off at top speed, immediately being swallowed by the forest's background.

"Goddammit, Venset track him!" Sel yelled.

Venset immediately ducked down and took Sel using its right hand and placed her inside the cockpit.

Once inside, Sel took the nervous system cord and attached it at the back of her helmet giving her full control of Venset.

"Jesus he is already 100 meters away from us!" Sel yelled.

~o~

Fustaku arrived at the position where a marker was placed on his HUD. What he saw was an open grass field with a small wooden shack just up the hill. A large crater caught his attention as well as the corpse of what it seems to be an unknown type LBA.

Fustaku approached the unknown type cautiously, the tip of his titan's 120mm autocannon pointing at the cowered abyssal.

"Operator, that abyssal is dead." His titan suddenly spoke startling Fustaku in the process.

"Goddammit don't do that!"

"I was just saying operator."

With that said Fustaku lowered the barrel of his 120mm autocannon and scanned his surroundings. According to the calibrate-scan that he performed, there appears to be a gunfight here not too long ago. Couple of rounds of the StA 409 were scattered about as well as emptied drum magazines.

"Sel dropped here a while ago." Fustaku muttered as he performed a crouch position with the titan controls.

"Operator" His titan faintly called.

With a loud clank, four screws fasten themselves inside the cockpit. A seven consecutive beep could be heard inside the cockpit, while all of that is happening Fustaku, who could not see what was happening inside the cockpit since his helmet is connected to the Titan's sensors, was starting to get disturbed.

"Titan what the hell is going on?! What the hell are you doing?!" Fustaku yelled demanding an answer from _his_ titan.

"Operator I have ten commandments that I must follow. The most important commandment amount the ten is _protecting my Operator_." The titan explained.

"VT!"

"I am detecting a level 5 hostile presence in the area. Hostility Level 5 is the highest level among my lists of dangerous hazards that could harm my Operator. If such level is met I will activate my locking mechanism inside the cockpit, out of my Operator's violation, to make sure that the outmost protection shall be provided."

"Jesus Christ, VT!" Fustaku yelled forcing himself to detach the nervous system cord from the back of his helmet.

With the nervous system cord detached Fustaku scanned the insides of the cockpit. Everything was on lock down, a red light was ominously lit up inside the cockpit and the basic controls that Fustaku managed learn via the manual was now replaced by a more complex sets of levers and keypads.

"Goddammit, I just learned the basic controls!" Fustaku yelled.

"Operator, please re-attach the nervous system cord before—"

The sentence was cut off, a strong—powerful impact landed on the titan's upper body. Fustaku who was not connected by the nervous system cord felt the extreme G-force pressing into him. His vision immediately turned red and his head overwhelmed by nausea. Bells were ringing wildly inside his head, and by the time he regained a bit of his original vision back, he could see a small dent, that was three inches wide, pressing towards him.

Suddenly the titan moved again this time going upward.

"Attach the nervous system cord now!" VT-04 yelled once more.

Slowly with heavy breathing Fustaku took the nervous system cord and attached it on his helmet. He blinked his eyes twice before his HUD was now replaced by the titan's HUD. What he saw was a woman, a woman dressed in white one piece dress.

She has a pale skin and a white hair. She was standing upright in front of the HUD's view and was about to do something. The moment Fustaku realized the woman's intent, it was already too late.

—Because a black tentacle from her back attacked him in the front penetrating the thick armor of titan's upper chassis.

He felt his world shaking once more, his vision surrounded by static and the odor of burnt plastic lingered on his nose. With his dominant hand Fustaku gripped his hand and slams it on his helmet fixing the static view that he was seeing.

The moment he saw the tentacle penetrating the upper chassis Fustaku immediately removed his helmet, disregarding the _connection nausea_ that he will experience if the helmet is removed from his head while it is connected with the nervous system cord.

But that was unimportant to him, because to him what's more important is the state of his body that was inside the upper chassis.

With a blurry vision he finally saw the black sharp tentacle…missing twelve centimeters from his head.

A few seconds later a robotic hand grabbed the black tentacle and forced it out of the upper chassis revealing the world through the 16 inch wide slit.

"Wear your helmet now before you enter _connection dementia_!" A small speaker inside the cockpit yelled prompting Fustaku to grab his helmet with his numbing hand.

"HUAAAA!" Fustaku inserted his head inside the helmet.

With a deep long inhale, Fustaku immediately lost the nauseating feeling in just a few seconds. He felt his fingers responding again, he could feel his feet numbing but not to the point that he could not move them.

"Remind me not to do something like that ever again. And please update the manual to include the side effects of removing the helmet forcibly." Fustaku faintly spoke as he looks for a way to get his voice back.

"There was a Safety and Precautions tab at the first page!" The VT-04 yelled, "I am sorry Operator but I will now tamper with your brain for brief second now." VT-04 announced.

"What are you—"

Like a puppet that has lost its puppeteer, Fustaku lost control of his body. His sense of touch, posture, hearing, taste, and many more were gone. What's left is his sense of vision and sense of smell.

A small needle could be seen at the back of Fustaku's head burrowing its way through his skull and into his brain. A blue fluid could be seen seeping its way to the tip of the needle. A few moments later the blue fluid entered Fustaku's head.

The blue fluid then homogenize with his brain some of which blended with his blood.

Fustaku could feel his vision sharpened, his hearing slightly receptive. By the time his senses were regained he felt like his body was brand new.

"What the fuck did you do?!" Fustaku yelled.

"I needed a way to transmit the ways of controlling _me_ for a short period of time. I injected you with an enhancing agent that will help you control _me_ like it was natural." VT-04 replied.

"You—you injected me with what?!"

Out of lue of the situation the _white woman_ made its move. There were now six tentacles floating in the air and two of which were helping her displace in one place into the other in just a short second.

The distance between Fustaku and the _white woman_ decreased and before long the _white woman_ was now eight feet away.

The _white woman_ turned to the right sending three tentacles to his direction. The sharp edges came to Fustaku's eyes, he knew right there that if ever one of them is to—

"I won't let you." Fustaku gritted, grabbing the three tentacles using the titan's right hand and with a quick motion a small high frequency blade emerged out of the titan's left hand severing the three tentacles.

"GahhH!" The _white woman_ screamed in agony as she jumped back.

"What the?"

Fustaku was stunned; he did not know that there was a hidden blade on his left hand. More or else he couldn't have caught those three tentacles like it was nothing, not if normally that is.

"Recalibrating systems…sensors recalibrated, G-force dissipation recalibrated, energy retention recalibrated, controls to motion recalibrated. Settings successfully recalibrated."

With swift motion Fustaku swung the 120mm autocannon from its collapsed holstered position into firing mode. He then fired six rounds into the _white woman_ hitting her twice.

"VT, gather intel about that thing."

"RAH!" The _white woman_ made its move.

Dashing forwards, the _white woman_ disappeared from Fustaku's sensors. A few seconds later an afterimage of a pale skinned fist buried its way into the 120mm autocannon, destroying it in the process.

Using the left joystick at the moment the _white woman's_ fist touched the metallic surface of the autocannon, Fustaku was able to grab the _white woman's head_ after the autocannon was destroyed.

"Eat this!"

In a counterclockwise motion Fustaku rotated the _white woman's_ body before slamming it into the ground. A three feet crater was formed and the surrounding ground inside the 50 meter radius cracked like the ground was made of paper.

A cloud of smoke covered Fustaku's view. Thermal imaging shows that w _hite woman_ was not affected by the attack and a couple of shards that were 12 inches in length surrounded the _white woman_.

"I've finalized the intelligence data about this _thing_ using the European Database." VT-04's voice entered Fustaku's eardrums.

A crack, he heard a crack.

By the time Fustaku changed his vision from thermal into basic, his titan received a hail of black shards as sharp as knives.

~o~

The moment arrived and Sel comprehended what the hell was going on, the battle was already over…or what appears to be the conclusion.

Brown smoke covered the clash of a 25 foot titan and a tall _white woman_. Sel successfully stopped Woljek from interfering but then she herself knew that she should've done something to help his commanding officer.

But after seeing the fight, she said to herself "LT, couldn't have done that…"

She was unsure whether the titan was controlled in autopilot mode or it was controlled by her commanding officer. How the titan was able to catch the three tentacles that disappeared in an instant from her view was beyond her.

"Venset you see something?" Sel faintly asked.

"Thermal imaging shows that 2nd Lieutenant Fustaku's titan is currently on a crouched position with the titan's left hand burrowed on the ground.

"Is the titan okay?"

There was this faint pause, before Sel received her answer. And it was not the answer that she was hoping for.

"The titan is out of action." Venset replied.

"What do you mean out of—?"

"Get down!"

A whistle, yes, Sel heard a loud whistle. She heard it before her exposed face touched the ground. The small rocks on the ground collided with her skin some of which made a lasting impression on her. She couldn't feel her hair; it was as if it was no longer there. Slowly she placed her hand on her neck and realized that her hair was already touching her neck.

Out of lue of curiosity Sel turned her body clockwise and raised her head. Venset, her titan, was littered of black shards to the point that she couldn't see the head of her titan anymore.

"Report" Sel called.

"Sgt. Romanov!" Woljek yelled.

"Report goddammit!"

But she received no reply.

"Sel, we have to move now!" Woljek grabbed Sel's left arm and dragged her upward. He then took his sniper rifle and displaced downhill.

"Goddammit!"

"Save your _fucking_ later. For now we need to seek cover in this open terrain!" Woljek shouted he turned his head around trying to get a guess on what the _white woman_ is now doing. "I-I think we lo—"

Time seemed to slow down.

Her red eyes met his. She was seven feet tall and had six tentacles at her back. She wore a white one piece dress and had a pale skin. She had a white hair and shards could be seen emerging out of her chin.

The moment Woljek saw her eyes he knew who this _white woman_ was. And the very thought of knowing her sends shivers down his spine.

Woljek desperately tried swinging his sniper rifle forward. But, but, everything was so slow for him.

In a desperate attempt he decided to push Sel to the side, to him, at least he could do something in this hopeless situation.

And just like that, the time regained its original speed, and with it the shards that were floating around Princess Regelinda.

"Pieprzone Pieklo…" Woljek swore as he remembered the smiling face of his deceased princess as he fell to the ground when he pushed Sel to the side.

~o~

Fustaku had two choices.

One—

He had no choices at all. It was either, do and do it!

With his dominant hand Fustaku grabbed his sidearm and emptied his five rounds magazine in a span of two seconds.

Each of those rounds scored a direct hit on the floating shards around the _white woman_.

He had to reload.

He has to reload.

There are still two shards left. He has to take them out.

He gritted his way through the process to reload his sidearm, that he forgot the six tentacles that were attached on the _white woman's_ back. Three of which were already approaching him in supersonic speeds in a horizontal manner.

"Huff"

On a clockwise motion Fustaku took his combat knife and raised it diagonally towards the second tentacle as he moved sideward, making a gap in between the three.

After successfully inserting the magazine inside his sidearm he emptied his lungs and aligned the iron sights into the _white woman's_ last two shards.

The _white woman_ immediately turned towards his position and hailed him with a rain of shards.

And a single knife flew in between the said shards, it entered subsonic speeds…landing dead center on the _white woman's_ forehead.

Woljek stared blankly at Princess Regelinda, her red eyes were blank and the tentacles behind her we limping on the ground. She stood her ground as she stared into the distance.

Using his dominant hand Woljek pushes himself up from the ground before he took his sidearm from his left thigh, his other hand reaching forward.

"Woljek!" Sel shouted.

He didn't stop, he moved forward, ever closer to the princess that he failed to save.

"Rege…" Woljek called her.

His hand touched her cold pale cheek, the barrel of his sidearm limping away from its target.

"Rege…It's me Woljek." He called. "Your…"

His hand shivered as he finally realized that the Regelinda that he knew, was already gone. And what's left is now an emptied husk of foreign flesh.

"I'm so sorry…"

Slowly, the emptied husk finally lost its balance and collapsed on Woljek's arms. The weight took a toll on him and before long he was forced to let her go…

"Are you okay? Sorry I wasn't able to catch up on you." Fustaku faintly said as he approached the husk and crouched before he forcibly removed the knife from its head.

"LT? Did you just do that?" Sel shouted in bafflement as she examined the husk.

"Uhh yeah? Anyways are you fine? Where's your titan?" Fustaku removed his pilot helmet and asked as he stood up from his crouched position before wiping the black blood off his knife.

Sel pointed a finger to a general direction, Fustaku traced her finger and saw a crouched titan littered of shards.

"Well it looks like yours got taken out as well." Fustaku replied as he holstered his knife back at its leather pouch. "Hmm? Who's this fella?" Fustaku lightly asked.

"Polish Special Forces agent, Woljek. That's all I know in the moment." Sel replied as she glanced towards Woljek who was standing behind Fustaku.

"An SF? Where the hell did you guys meet?" Fustaku asked.

[…]

"You motherfucker!"

Woljek sprung his left fist forward finding its mark on Fustaku's left cheek. The force was strong enough that it actually pushed him to the ground.

Woljek then got on top of Fustaku and started hammering him with heavy jabs.

"You! YOU!" Woljek shouted in fury as he took Fustaku's collar and raised him forward. "I will kill you!"

"That's enough!"

Sel immediately pushed Woljek away from Fustaku and grabbed her sidearm from its holster.

"What the matter with you?!" Sel yelled as she pointed her sidearm at Woljek.

"I should be asking you that question!" Woljek yelled back raising his sniper rifle at Fustaku.

Fustaku rubbed his swollen check as he stood up from the ground. He then pulled his sidearm and pointed it Woljek's direction.

"Come on pal, let's be reasonable with this!"

"Reasonable? Reasonable?! Were you reasonable when you fucking killed Prince Krakow?! Were you reasonable, back then?! Here right here, I will end you right here!" Woljek screamed turning the safety pin of his sniper rifle into fire.

[…]

A single bullet can end a life. A single round from a sidearm can be dangerous if aimed properly.

"…"

Woljek stared in bafflement as he couldn't digest what happened. He heard gunfire but it was not coming from his sniper rifle.

"LT!"

Fustaku silently stared at Woljek. A finger at the trigger and white gas coming out of the barrel of his sidearm, his eyes were cold and empty, despite focusing his attention at Woljek, Sel knew, who was standing in front of Fustaku, she knew that Fustaku was not actually looking at Woljek.

"Blugft!"

Blood exited Woljek's mouth as he finally realized what happened. His eyes upward, slowly his body fell to the ground sideward, a 5mm hole could be seen on his forehead.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Sel shouted as she ran towards Woljek's body.

"He was going to fire anyway. It was between shoot and being shot at!" Fustaku yelled trying to justify his action.

Sel kneeled to the ground as she reached Woljek's body. She couldn't believe what just happened, it happened so fast…

"Goddammit he's dead." Sel cursed as she raised her head upward.

"Sel I—" Fustaku called.

"Something's wrong with you. No, _there_ is something wrong with." Sel silently muttered.

"I—"

[Fustaku? 2nd Lieutenant Fustaku come in!]

In a lue, a faint shout could be heard inside Fustaku's helmet. With a scratch of his neck Fustaku wore his helmet and answered.

"Fustaku here"

[Congratulations on taking out the Walking Airfield!]

"We took down the walking airfield? Anyway who is this?"

[This is Engineer Holland you idiot! Anyway, yes that white lady over there is the walking airfield. I've already sent a chopper to recover the two of you right now.]

Fustaku took a glance at his titan as well as the titan that Sel nicknamed Venset.

"Care to explain why you knew about the situation right now?"

There was this five second long pause before Fustaku got his answer.

[Raise your head about 90 degrees and you'll see a drone overlooking your position.]

Fustaku did just that and raised his head on a 90 degree angle. Using the magnification feature of his helmet he was able to zoom in and identify the drone.

"Yeah, I see it." Fustaku replied.

[Excellent, now get your ass back in the base and reorganize your men. They've been doing a lot of errands lately.]

"No one died while I was gone, right?" Fustaku worriedly ask.

[No one died but your platoon suffered a 20% casualty report with most of your soldiers have their limbs dismembered.]

Fustaku was conflicted whether to feel relieved that no one died in his platoon or to feel bad since they got wounded. His platoon still suffered some wounds but—

"I see, thank you for the report." Fustaku softly said.

The transmission ended there, Fustaku let out a sigh as he removed the pilot helmet and turned his head towards Sel.

"Holland said congratulations for taking out the walking airfield."

"That thing ain't a walking airfield. That is just a mere woman unfortunate enough to be turned like that."

Fustaku swallowed the words he wanted to say, he wanted to say that's not true but deep inside of him he knew he shouldn't say those words.

Lying on the ground is the unknown abyssal that he managed to kill with just a knife. He still couldn't believe that it actually worked but then again, VT-04 did something to him, and he knew if VT didn't do any _tempering_ he shouldn't have been breathing today.

"VT, before he released the locks. He told me what the classification of this abyssal was."

"And?"

"She's called the Smiling Abyssal Princess. She's notorious for harassing the supply lines behind the Europe Line—"

"I don't really care what she is, LT. The abyssal is dead, let's leave it that way." Sel stood up from the ground and took the sniper rifle that Woljek owned.

Sel glanced at Fustaku and shook her head side to side. With her right hand she scratched her left brown as she walked pass him.

"Let's move, seeing a man like this is depressing. I just want to see Mountain already."

Fustaku stood there, he stood there watching Sel's back as she walked toward her titan.

"UGHH!"

Suddenly Fustaku had this strong urge to vomit. He failed to hold it in and vomited on the ground.

"UGHH!"

It didn't stop, it continued on and on until he saw blue fluids coming out of his mouth.

"GAH-GAH!"

Using the sleeves of his left arm he wiped the saliva off the rims of his mouth and stood up from his crouched position. A couple of deep breaths later Fustaku managed to get rid of the nausea out of his head.

Fustaku's skin was pale, his lips were turning purple, and the tips of his fingers were turning purple. He couldn't understand what was going on, and then he saw the blue fluids that came out of his mouth.

"Side effects?" Fustaku muttered.

Slowly Fustaku stood up from the ground and placed both his hands on his thigh, his legs were shaking…no his body is shaking badly. He was still feeling nauseated but not to the point that he would collapse.

After a couple of deep breaths he was able to stabilize his shaking body.

"Hahahaha" Fustaku faintly laughed. "Goddammit…"

He swore as he gripped both of his thighs as hard as he could. He gritted his teeth, trying his best not to scream.

"God-fucking-dammit"

Fustaku asked himself, he asked himself _why the fuck did he do it this way_. He asked himself that question twice before finally deciding for an inconclusive answer.

Turning his head clockwise, Fustaku glanced at the corpse of a polish special forces agent. He wondered, he wondered.

He wondered…

Then right there, it clicked to him.

~o~

"LT? LT?"

Fustaku vividly opened his eyes after being shaken awake from his blissful sleep. Using his dominant hand he rubbed his right eye socket before rubbing the other.

The sky was already hued orange, he could see the sun setting on the horizon and the blue and black horizon closing in from the Austrian mountains.

"You were tumbling here and about. Did something good happen?" Lomo asked with a snicker on his face.

Fustaku was confused, he was definitely confused. With his dominant hand he brushed his hair upwards before raising his body from his sitting position.

"—Tang ina tulog ako?!" Fustaku asked his second in command. [8]

Lomo nodded as he leaned back into the flat cover of the transport truck before continuing writing on his letter. With no words to say, Fustaku scratched the back of his neck and jumped out of the transport truck that he was on.

Lined near a large lake is a long line of transport trucks, Fustaku saw soldiers taking a rest on the grass plains while some were having a bit of fun on the large lake beside the road.

Fustaku ran back towards the transport truck and softly shook Lomo's shoulder. With an irritated groan Lomo removed the towel that was covering his face and glanced at his commanding officer.

"What day is it? What happened?" Fustaku asked.

"What? Hmm, today is the 17th day of January. If you ask me what happened would you care to elaborate what you want to be answered?"

"What happened after we arrived on Landeck base?"

Lomo was confused all of a sudden so he took his journal and scanned the notes that we wrote there.

"Hmm, January 13 we left Yokosuka Naval Base and headed to Central Russia, to refuel on a central trading hub on the Ural Mountains. The night after that we arrived at Landeck Base, Austria. The next morning January 14, Etnaz, Sel, Ursa, and you, were chosen as Titan pilots by Engineer Holland. The night of that day Abyssal Stingrays were seen bombing the Europa Line and on that same day you also remembered that you forgot to deliver the package that Admiral Goto wanted to be delivered."

Fustaku remembered those events clearly. He remembered that he managed to persuade the other pilots like himself to take on a dangerous delivery mission to the Swiss Embassy. They did that using Sel's titan nicknamed Venset, they managed to get back to Landeck base and got some shuteye.

The next day—

"The next day you and other titan pilots continued your training to control the VT-series titan's. A couple of tests were performed but at the end of the day, only Sel was able to fully control her titan using complex controls. During the evening, to celebrate Sel's official _coronation_ as Pilot we got ourselves drunk by stealing some wine and beer from the storage house."

At that moment Fustaku realized that what Lomo was saying was clearly different from the one he recently—

"And the next morning we were ordered to mobilize together with the 10th Austrian Infanterie-Division towards Hamburg, Germany. Our orders will be given there once we arrive." Lomo nodded and closed his journal and placed it back into his backpack.

"What the hell…" Fustaku muttered.

"In simple terms LT, you were drunk…very drunk and since we don't want your reputation as a commanding officer tattered with dirt I was the one who acted as you during the morning meeting regarding our deployment in Hamburg. In short words, you were sleeping this whole time." Lomo said his eyes turning towards the place where Fustaku woke up.

"I fucking knew it." Fustaku groaned slamming his head on the metal floor of the transport truck.

"Oh come on, having _real_ dreams or something is one of the side effects of a good hangover. Anyway, I suggest you to visit Doctor Ulima at the sixth transport truck. You should hurry by the way because we will be disembarking soon." Lomo said.

Fustaku let out a sigh before raising his head from the metallic floor. A beet red mark could be seen on his forehead. He then used his right hand's index finger to scratch his right brow.

"Alright, I guess taking a recovery pill would be a good idea. Anyway where are the others?" Fustaku said.

Lomo turned his body a bit and pointed his index finger at the soldiers running around on the lake.

"Oh" Fustaku croaked.

"You should get them formed up soon. The other soldiers are already packing up their belongings." Lomo added.

Fustaku clicked his tongue realizing that the soldiers that _were having fun_ on the lake were his men, well not technically men since Sel is a woman.

He was losing determination to actually approach them since he was still feeling a bit sick and he did not have the motivation to approach them. But either way he still walked towards the lake and approached them.

"Alright, enough of this bullshittery and get your asses back into the transport truck!" Fustaku shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Well look who decided to show up!" Sel was the first one to notice his presence.

"Sleeping beauty is awake. So does that mean Lomo kissed you while we were gone?" Val shouted after removing a plastic bag wrapped around his head.

"Fuck off! Mountain, get your pants already." Fustaku pointed his finger at the military pants left on dry ground.

One after another his soldiers were coming out of the lake and started to pick up their things. Before he could utter another word, he saw a man holding a megaphone with one hand and was facing the convoy of transport trucks behind him.

"LOS! LOS!"

Shit, Fustaku cursed inside his head and immediately ran off. His men were confused at first but then when they saw the convoy of trucks resurrecting back to life they knew what was going on.

"Hurry the fuck up or we'll leave you guys behind!" Lomo who was left on the transport truck stood up and shouted with both of his hand in front of his face making half-circle.

They managed to arrive at the transport truck before it disembarked. With the first one to arrive being Fustaku and the last one was Etnaz.

"Seriously, Etnaz you are a sloppy runner." Pura jokingly announced as he removed his sweaty shirt.

"Buzz off!" Etnaz rebuked back an irritated smile on his face.

Fustaku wiped off the sweat on his forehead and raised his head into the coverless transport truck. He could see the orange sky slowly turning blue; he could see the stars slowly emerging out of the sky as well.

With a jerking motion Fustaku saw the sky moving left and right not because the sky is shaking but because the transport truck that they were on was moving on bumpy road.

"I'm getting sick." Were the last words Fustaku uttered as he stood up from his seating position and vomited out the fluids inside his stomach into the road.

"I think LT, still haven't recovered from last night's drinking party." Mop jokingly remarked as he opened a bag of slice bread.

Using both of his hand he then started giving a piece of the slice bread to everyone inside the transport truck.

"Well whose idea was it to do such a grandiose celebration like that." Fustaku asked he leaned in and cowered into a sitting position.

"It was your idea." Everyone answered.

"…..Remind me not do it again next time." Were the only words Fustaku could utter after realizing that it was his doing after all.

"Anyway, Lomo was there a reason why we mobilized in Hamburg? You didn't become Engineer Holland's pet soldier are you?" Zera lightly asked.

"What's the matter of you? You think I'm that kind of person? Anyway, according to him a battalion of Titan pilots there requested for a substitute for their emptied ranks. Since we have four titan pilots in this platoon alone, it was decided that we will be the filler of that said battalion." Lomo explained as he divided the slice bread in two.

"I thought the reason why we are sent here was to test out the titans that Engineer Holland built and ask for a copy of this said blueprint. We did all that, aren't we supposed to be getting home right now?" Sel who was sitting near the exit asked.

There was this long pause, the soldiers inside the transport truck were glancing at each other after hearing Sel's question.

"By home are you referring to Philippines or Japan?" Mountain was the first one to spoke.

"…I meant coming back to Japan." Sel blankly answered.

"Goto told me that once we arrive here in Austria, Holland will be the one pulling the strings. In short, we are all in the commands of that guy until he finally decides that he'll send us back to Japan." Fustaku softly announced, he then raised his lowered head towards his men. "I do not know when we'll get back to Japan but I tell you right now, we'll get back to Japan sooner or later, agreed?"

The 14 soldiers inside the transport truck nodded simultaneously as they heard their commanding officer's words. Some however were still skeptical about it, they still wondered if ever they will ever return to Japan or they'll be stuck here in Europe until the war is over.

 _It is pathetic for me to say but we are standing on hell's gate right now._ Fustaku said to himself. As he saw the downcast looked of his soldiers.

"We need to satisfy that man's need as fast as we could." Lomo muttered as he leaned forward from the other side towards Fustaku's side. "Here, the satellite phone you desperately wanted to be stolen."

On his hand is crude looking phone that was eight inches long and three inches wide. A single large antenna could be seen sticking out of the right corner of the satellite phone but it seems to be retractable if one pushes it down.

"When did—" Fustaku was dumbfounded as he took the satellite phone from Lomo's hand.

"You were drunkenly shouting about stealing a satellite phone from a maintenance worker yesterday. You even ordered me to steal it for you." Lomo added.

"You despicable bastard." Everyone took a glance at Fustaku and simultaneously said those words.

Fustaku could only make a wary smile as he examine the satellite phone that he was holding. It was made of plastic and the screen had a blue LED backlight. He started pressing the numbers on the keypad until he finished inputting the serial number of the satellite phone that he gave to Zuikaku.

"So why would you want a satellite phone all of a sudden?" Lomo suddenly asked prompting Fustaku to delete the serial number that he inputted.

"It's nothing, and thanks for giving me this." Fustaku replied putting the satellite phone inside the bag with his name written on it.

With a shrug Lomo leaned back took a book from his backpack titled "Mysteries of Human Anatomy".

Fustaku let out a sigh and glanced at the next transport truck that was following them. A man caught his attention, the driver specifically; the look of the driver's face came to his attention. He was looking straight at them. His eyes were green, his skin was white, and his hair was brown that was kept by a blue field cap.

He felt disturbed unknowingly. Out of politeness he averted his gaze and raised his head towards the sky. The bluish-black sky, where stars could be seen blinking on the cloudless sky.

He saw the constellations, Ares, Scorpio and Virgo. He wondered, he really wondered, if _she_ could also see what he is seeing right now.

He wondered what _she_ was doing right now. How is she? Is she doing okay? Was the sortie that Admiral Goto initiated successful?

More and more questions were popping out of his head but it seems he could not answer all of them. Simply, the answers were not there.

"…I should call her tomorrow." Fustaku muttered.

"You said something, LT?" Mountain who was sitting next to him glanced towards his direction and asked.

"Nah, its nothing" Fustaku replied as he slowly closed his eyes, hoping for better dream this time.

~o~

The sky was hued black, the stars were twinkling brightly as she stared at them, wondering how she failed her older sister. How she failed on coming back alive, how she failed on staying by her side.

She regretted greatly on that.

But she couldn't change the past. Her memories are now left in shambles, bits of her identity were only left and the past…all gone.

A blank white sheet of paper—

"Zuikaku"

Turning her head to the left Zuikaku saw Atago on her abyssal form raising a large tuna with her right hand.

"Look what I found washed up on the shore!" Atago happily announced as her abyssal form fades.

Zuikaku let out a tired smile as she closed the window of her room and approached Atago.

"Is this still edible?"

"Seems like it. Oh don't worry~" Atago gleefully said, "We shipgirls don't get intoxicated on things like this. Though the very thought of it is kinda scary." Atago let out a forced laugh as she took a glance at the tuna.

Zuikaku kneeled down and checked the tuna's eyes. It was still white and not a trace of blood could be seen. The tuna must've died because of the sea color, Zuikaku thought.

"Hmm, it looks edible. Say, why won't we cook this on the campfire?" Zuikaku offered.

"That's a great idea, Zuikaku-chan! I've had enough of the rations that we are receiving from the maintenance workers! Now let me get a match while you get some fuel from the storage room and let's meet up on the campfire!"

Zuikaku nodded and Atago hastily ran towards the stairs and into the exit. With a sigh, Zuikaku grabbed her walking slippers and headed out of her dark room.

"You seem to feeling tired." She heard a deep male's voice.

"Indeed, I am feeling tired for some reasons. Maybe it's because of the food that we are getting or just the very thought of not seeing my sister is making me feel tired." Zuikaku replied with a complaining tone as she headed down the stairs.

Orizuru emerged out of the shadows of the stairs and opened its large jaws. A white puff of odorless gas exited its large jaw as he stared at Zuikaku walking down the stairs.

"You seem to be walking straight this time." Orizuru jokingly uttered.

"I'll fucking kill you next time." Zuikaku growled as she reached the bottom and head out of the building that she was on.

Lamp lights were neatly placed along the road, this is currently a substitution for the people stranded in Saipan Naval Base. Since yesterday the electric generator that was responsible for generating electricity around the naval base was destroyed due to the bombings. Although the storage buildings were spared other facilities like the docks were destroyed completely.

"What a hopeless situation that we are in." Zuikaku let out a tired sigh as she watched the road and other buildings packed full of lamps.

"Don't murmur that much Zuikaku. If it weren't for your efforts of driving away the abyssal bombers none of these unfortunate men here would've seen another day." Orizuru said from behind.

"Although we had plane arrows on the storage room which was good but when I launched them they didn't retract into the normal planes that I was used to."

"You are saying that you haven't seen an Abyssal Bearcat Fighter before, Zuikaku?" Orizuru asked.

Zuikaku shook her head in denial. She had a different reason why she said those words.

"I felt like…I've lost my identity." Zuikaku faintly replied.

Zuikaku felt like she was not the same Zuikaku as before, she felt like her old identity as an Aircraft carrier was now taken away from her.

"Well, technically you are already dead. It's normal to have an identity crisis this late." Orizuru calmly replied.

"Hearing that out of your mouth is not helping. Talking to an abyssal that harbors half of my memories and is the epitome of my other personality is like talking to a clean mirror."

"Well technically you are a half-abyssal now."

"Shut-up already."

Zuikaku shook her head once more before heading towards the storage room to _burrow_ a jerry can of fuel.

She traced her steps along the lamp lit road until she found herself facing the metallic door of the storage room. With a light knock, she waited for an answer. But she didn't receive any so using her dominant hand she opened the door and entered.

"Orizuru open your mouth wide." Zuikaku faintly whispered.

Slowly Orizuru who was following beside Zuikaku opened his mouth wide illuminating the room with a bright red light, though only Zuikaku herself can see the illumination.

"Ah, found it."

Using her dominant hand Zuikaku grabbed the top handle and raised it around her knee. With her other hand she placed it on the jerry can's lower surface gripped it tightly. She then slowly shook it side to side checking whether it had any fuel left inside.

"Just a bit left." Zuikaku muttered.

Contempt with the amount of fuel inside the jerry can Zuikaku turned around and headed towards the exit. Only to be blocked by a young maintenance worker carrying a box.

The young maintenance worker glanced towards her and immediately jumped back startled, as well Zuikaku who suddenly raised her left hand.

The moonlight illuminated the young maintenance worker who was now laying its back on the ground, the contents of the box he was carrying was scattered all about.

Zuikaku opened her closed eyes and lowered her left hand. She then slowly walked out of the storage room and saw the young maintenance worker rubbing the back of his head.

"I-I am terribly sorry!" Zuikaku hurriedly apologized as she took the spilled contents of the box back in into the container.

"Ah," The young maintenance worker crawled forward picking up the things that were thrown towards his side.

With the objects on her hands Zuikaku then took the container and placed them inside the container.

"I am terribly sorry for startling you. Please let me arrange this." The young maintenance worker apologizes as he too placed the objects on his hands inside the container.

"No it was my fault after all, I did not announce my entry and just entered without your violation." Zuikaku replied.

After a few rugged arrangements later the objects finally arranged on the box the young maintenance worker grabbed the box and carried it.

"No its okay—"

The young man paused when he focused his attention towards the crouched Zuikaku. The hairs of his body immediately rose, his hands starting to tremble and his sweat clamping his hands.

"What's wrong?" Zuikaku asked still on a crouched position.

"Eh? Ah, no it's nothing. I'll be on my way now." The young maintenance worker answered as he hastily entered the storage room.

Baffled, Zuikaku stared at the back of the young maintenance worker as he entered the storage room. She wondered what suddenly happened, it was as if he was avoiding her when he saw her face.

"Zuikaku, you need to move on." Orizuru spoke behind her.

"Wha-what you do you mean move on?!" Zuikaku angrily asked.

"Your eyes, Zuikaku." Orizuru replied.

Out of fear Zuikaku took her purse mirror from her pockets and hastily opened it. With the help of Orizuru's backlight she saw what Orizuru was talking about.

"Ahh—"

Bright as lavender, Zuikaku's eyes were purple, the very same eyes of those humanoid abyssals that attacked this base a day prior.

With a click of her tongue Zuikaku stood up from her crouched position and grabbed the handle of the jerry can and ran towards the direction where the campfire is.

When she arrived there Atago was already sitting on a thick log with both of her hands placed on her checks. Her expression signifying that she was irritated.

"Ah! What took you so long! I thought you ditched me here!" Atago saw Zuikaku's figure from the distance and stood up from her sitting position and shouted.

"HA~HA~"

A couple of seconds later Zuikaku stopped and let out a couple of deep breaths trying her best to catch her breath.

"What?" Atago asked.

Zuikaku raised an index finger from her right hand gesturing Atago to wait for a moment in which she followed.

"Are-are my eyes still purple?!" Zuikaku yelled after regaining her composure.

Atago leaned in and placed her right hand on Zuikaku's chin. A smile emerged out of her face, as she slowly leaned away.

"Well ain't that rare?" Atago jokingly announces.

Zuikaku's petrified expression immediately crumpled and was replaced by an irritated expression.

"Now-now, before you go ninja on me how about you pour some fuel on the wood that I piled up?" Atago offered as she slowly walked away from Zuikaku.

"Fine" Zuikaku replied with a clicked tongue.

With her dominant hand she opened the lid which was detachable and threw it into the woods. She didn't care, all that mattered is that she could start up the fire and ask Atago about it.

Hastily, she turned the jerry can upside down and the let the contents pour out until the last drop. Once it was emptied, Zuikaku flip it again and placed it behind a thick log.

"Hhuph!"

With a single swift motion Atago stood upright and rummaged on her pockets.

"Now where was it? Ah!"

A wide smile emerged out of her face when she finally grabbed the matchbox from her small pockets. Atago hummed as she took one matchstick from the wooden box and moved it forwards against the rough surface of the matchbox's side.

An orange flame lit up on the matchstick's black tip. Atago then slowly elevated it at the top of the pyramid formed wooden pile and dropped it.

"HYAA!"

The campfire immediately bursts into flames prompting Atago to jump back evading the flame, unfortunately she forgot that there's a thick wooden block behind her and when her legs collided with it she fell down over it.

"Why did you use crude fuel!?" Atago yelled in fury.

A palm was resting on Zuikaku's face when she saw Atago fell on her own. She didn't even bother laughing out loud at the stupidity that Atago did. It was neither cute nor captivating, just plain ol' stupidity.

"Stop messing around already and prepare the fish." Zuikaku complained as she sat on a nearby thick wooden block.

"Zuikaku-chan, so meanie!" Atago complained with a crying gesture.

With swift movements Atago got herself up. She then took the tuna that she _recovered_ on the beach and pieced a metal rod from the mouth to the fish's fin.

Atago was humming when she was doing this in which Zuikaku was annoyed but was hopeless to complain since Atago was holding the tuna, and that means that Atago has the upperhand. If Zuikaku is to make a complaint here she might lose her part of the share.

She can't risk it, she had enough of the rations that she is receiving from the maintenance workers, a fish is far better than a plain brown biscuit.

"There are many kinds of abyssals princesses roaming around the vast seas. You can name them one by one if you want." Atago says as she stood up after placing the tuna on the campfire.

"I already knew about that. I've killed two abyssal princesses in the past too." Zuikaku replied as she placed both of her hands on her cheeks waiting for the tuna to be cooked.

"Just two? Well, I don't want to be called a show off but I actually sunk ten with my former fleet." Atago sat near Zuikaku and uttered those words.

Zuikaku didn't felt amazed by the fact that Atago sunk more abyssal princesses than herself. After all, Zuikaku heard about the notorious stories of the _first shipgirl_ and the other shipgirls of the combined fleet's First Fleet before it was disbanded.

"Spare me the storing telling about your famous fleet." Zuikaku waved her hand up and down not wanting to hear anything about it.

"Tsk fine, we were just getting to the good part too~" Atago felt dejected after being denied of the opportunity of storytelling about her famous fleet.

The sound of wood croaking on the campfire entered Zuikaku's ears as she stared at the fire waiting for Atago's explanation.

"There are four types of abyssals princesses. The red eyed ones, the blue eyed ones, the purple eyed ones, and lastly the orange eyed ones. You can identify them by looking at their eyes and the aura surrounding them. We call them princesses for a reason right? You know the reason right?" Atago turned her attention towards Zuikaku.

"They are called that way since they possess more intelligence than most commonly seen abyssal destroyers, cruisers, battleships, carriers and submarines." Zuikaku answered.

"Not just sea borne abyssals but installation borne abyssals as well, the ones you we call Airfield Princess and Harbor Princess for example." Atago elaborated.

"R-right"

Atago leaned back and crossed her arms around her chest, she then closed her eyes and a made a smug expression.

"Zuikaku-can you need to improve your studies~"

"Just get on with it."

"Alright we'll start with the red eyed ones. Have you realized that almost all of them harbor these feels of wanting to _come home_? They always mutter these during naval battles as well as during their last moments before they are destroyed."

A flash of memory about the second abyssal princess that she destroyed floated on Zuikaku's head.

 _I want to go home~_

"These ones are also sadistic in nature." Atago leaned forward with her index finger raised upward.

"The last one was unnecessary."

"Now, blue eyed princesses are…hmm, it's kinda hard to describe them. These one's are unpredictable, cunning and smart too. They seldom attack aggressively like the red eyed ones, and always prefer to be surrounded by lackeys unlike the red eyed ones who tend to have a specific group surrounding her."

Zuikaku thought of the first abyssal princess that she sank on the Taiwan Strait. She remembered correctly that, that one had blue eyes, and that blue eyed abyssal was indeed surrounded by a large group of abyssals. That abyssal princess still had a lasting impression on her.

"The purple ones, the ones that you have…well let's just say that they are a bit aggressive, brutal, and tad quicker than the blue and reds. They tend to fight like a lone wolf unlike the previous one's that I mentioned." Atago softly said as she peered over Zuikaku's position.

"If I remember correctly, yours is purple as well." Zuikaku loudly muttered.

"That is correct. Now lastly the orange eyed ones….." Atago's voice trailed.

"What?" Zuikaku asked.

Atago silently stared at the campfire. Her eyes were blank and both of her hands were intertwined and placed beneath the nostrils of her nose.

"Brutal, ferocious, you can call them whatever you want. They are like the bears among the group of rabbits." Atago quietly stated as she stared into the fire.

Zuikaku was having a hard time digesting it despite being explained on a down to earth way. Insider her head Zuikaku digested the things that Atago shared to her.

Red eyes, sadistic—

Blue eyes, composed—

Purple eyes, lone wolf—

Orange eyes, demons—

A lone wolf, that word struck Zuikaku in the head. Purple eyes, both her and Atago had the same eye color. She wondered what Atago was like during her time as an abyssal princess, was she aggressive fighting against the shipgirls that she fought against? If so, she wondered who defeated her in the first place. The one who defeated her must've been as quick as her or probably just smart enough to outsmart Atago herself.

"Takao…"

"What?" Zuikaku furrows her eyebrows as she heard Atago's voice.

"Takao defeated me near a certain harbor. I didn't expect…my older sister to actually defeat me on a one on one fight. Well to be honest, according to Akashi I actually did inflict great amount of damage on Takao's fleet." Atago downheartedly said.

"You still remember how the fight started and ended?" Zuikaku asked curiously.

"No…I don't remember. What I do remember is her relieved smile when I finally regained consciousness a day after. Even more so the burns marks and penetration wounds that I inflicted to her. Heck, she even visited me with bandages wrapped all around her."

Atago leaned back, her attention fixated on the fire. Despite the calm expression that she had on her face, Zuikaku knew, that buried beneath that expression is an unrelenting emotion of guilt and pain.

The pain of hurting your own family.

The guilt of hurting your own sister.

"I—" Zuikaku uttered but was unable to choke out the words that were stuck on her throat.

"Does my explanation about the eye color identification help you understand the different kinds of abyssal princesses all over the world?" Atago asked a saddened smile on her face.

"Hmnn." Zuikaku nodded.

With a rustle, Atago slowly stood up from the thick block of wood and approached the burning tuna fish that she placed beside the campfire. The skin was already covered in soot and the head unrecognizable due to the degree of burn that it received.

"I hope it is still edible." Atago muttered as she took the unheated part of the metal rod that she pieced through the tuna fish.

Atago then took a thick damped towel, she placed it on the brightly melted other edge of the metal rod that was facing the fire. She then turned her hand towards her and stared at it for a couple of seconds, slowly her palm was turned white and a couple of black shards could be seen emerging out of the back of her hand.

With the damped towel wrapped around the glowing metal edge, Atago then placed her hand around the damped towel.

"Wa—" Out of concern Zuikaku tried stopping Atago only to discover that her hand was not burning due to the heat.

"Oh don't worry. Only HE shells can burn my skin. A fire like this is nothing; I just need a damped cloth wrapped around here so that metal pieces that were already peeling off won't stick on my skin." Atago stated as she started savoring the smell of the burnt tuna fish.

Slowly Atago's mouth opened, her white teeth sticking out of her lips and was then burrowed on the soot covered skin of the tuna fish.

"Here! Here! Take a bite, its tasty!" Atago annoying announced as her face crumpled in joy as she took another bite into the skin.

Zuikaku slowly stood up from her side and approached Atago's standing figure. With her left hand holding her untied hair in place she took a bite at the tuna fish.

Immediately, her face crumpled as well, the taste of sea water came at the tips of her tongue. The sweet and yet bitter taste of the soot covered skin was new to her, and by the time she swallowed the part that she took, she was already wanting more.

"I could get used to this!" Zuikaku happily announced with her cheeks bulging by the amount of fish meat she stuffed inside her mouth.

"Me too!" Atago herself joyfully announced.

With the moon up so high into the sky, the two _abyssal shipgirls_ ate in joy as they finally ate something that is not made of flour and expired can goods.

For this is the first time, the two of them had a dinner that satisfied their tongues and croaking stomach.

~o~

The sun was already rising from the horizon when a knock came to his door. He did not reply to the knock, he only stared at the rising sun through his glass window.

Despite not answering the knock the door still opened, prompting Admiral Goto to turn around and ask who the visitor was.

"I'm sorry for entering but—" A female maintenance worker removed her gloves and bowed at the Admiral in front of her.

Her short hair was tied into a side tail and she wore a bright orange maintenance outfit. On her neck is her blue I.D indicating that she works at the special docks.

"Fleets 4 and 14 have arrived at the Naval Base. No major damages but are in desperate need of ammunition and fuel." The female maintenance worker announce after raising her head.

"Good, call the flagships of their corresponding fleet here. I need to talk to them. Also, call 5th fleet's flagship as well." Admiral Goto replied his expression covered in gloom.

The female maintenance worker nodded and exited the office.

As the door closed Admiral Goto slowly sat on his chair and waited for the morning pandemonium to commence.

First, the sound of the Reveille would ring across the naval base waking the dozing sailors and shipgirls from their bed.

Second, the sounds of complaints from a night addict idiot shipgirl being towed to shore by naval authorities.

Third, a consecutive explosion would erupt at the Akashi factory because a certain fairy was not doing his/her job properly.

Fourth, the echoing chimes of fire department trucks as they move beside the burning factory trying their best to put out the fire.

Fifth, the loud sounds of soles bashing the wooden floor would soon follow. The volume ever increasing as the second goes by.

Sixth, the sudden intrusion of the maintenance worker that he ordered to assemble the said flagships.

"Admiral another factory is burning!" The female maintenance worker yelled.

"I can hear that." Were the only words Admiral Goto uttered towards the maintenance worker, "You can go now." Admiral Goto added.

The female maintenance worker glanced to her back, nodding. She then walked away from the door and three shipgirls entered his office.

"You called us, admiral?" Yamashiro softly asked as she tugs her burned clothes, trying her best not to expose her chest.

"Yes, I called the three of you here. Anyway Yamashiro you can use my jacket for now. Seeing you like that is distracting." Admiral Goto pointed his index finger at the hanging jacket near the book cabinet.

Admiral Goto then took a large map from underneath his desk and placed it on his table.

"The Marianas Sea Region" Myoukou read the words written on the map.

"Yes, tomorrow evening I will be sortieing fleets 4, 5, and 14 to the Marianna's Sea Region to liberate Naval Base Saipan as well as saving shipgirls Zuikaku and…Atago." Admiral Goto's voice trailed.

"What happened? Was the Naval Base invaded by the Abyssal Fleet?" Myoukou leaned into the map and asked that question.

Admiral Goto nodded pointing his index finger on a small island of Tinian, located a few kilometers from Saipan.

"According to I-1, two abyssal princesses took the island of Tinian and made a staging post there. With their presence the abyssal territory expanded with the surrounding sea turning crimson in just a couple of hours." Admiral Goto stated as he drew a red circle around Tinian.

Yamashiro who was wearing Admiral Goto's jacket came towards the table and pointed her index finger on plain sea just 150 kilometers from Tinian.

"My detachment fleet encountered an abyssal princess here and successfully sank it here, with it is a new shipgirl named Hirado, a light carrier of the Chikuma-class."

Admiral Goto as well as Shoukaku and Myoukou were taken aback at the words Yamashiro uttered.

"Chikuma-class? Another paper ship?!" Shoukaku said.

"Lower your voice I am still hearing chimes in my ears, Shoukaku. Anyway that's all I got to report to you today Admiral." Yamashiro leaned back and sat on the chair placed in front of Admiral Goto's table.

"Nothing happened in particular with my fleet when I arrived at Taiwan. Although, we did recover Tsubasa who was heavily damaged at that time." Myoukou added as she smiled towards Shoukaku.

Shoukaku let out a sigh of relief knowing that a member of her fleet successfully returns home.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do."

Admiral Goto took three colored pens from his pockets and starts drawing arrows with red on the northern arrow, green with the central arrow, and blue with the southern arrow.

"According to the intelligence data that I-1's submarine fleet gathered, she spotted three abyssal task forces, mostly destroyers and cruisers, each placed on patrol duty along the Marianna's Region."

Three letters X were written along the three arrows that Admiral Goto previously drawn.

"Shoukaku, your fleet will be assigned on the northern route. I want you to sail pass the patrols and avoid confrontation as much possible. If you spot a patrol do not engage unless fired upon. If you reach the five kilometer mark away from the island I want you to dock at the port and assess the situation about the Naval Base's state. After that I want you to sail around Saipan and link up with Myoukou's fleet that will be sailing at the southern route, bringing along the supplies as well as Akashi's _Repair Bucket_ if such a need arises."

"What about my fleet, Admiral?" Yamashiro asked as she watched her admiral's gloved hands.

"Same as always, Yamashiro. You're fleet we'll be the decoy sailing on the middle route." Admiral Goto elaborated.

"Oh come on!" Yamashiro complained placing both of her hands on her cheeks as she leaned forwards.

"Now hear me out. You'll just need to buy Shoukaku and Myoukou's fleet some time to unload the supplies to the personnel left on the Naval Base. Once those supplies are unloaded they will then meet up and support you to take out the Abyssal Fleet's patrolling the area." Admiral Goto elaborated merging the Blue and Red arrows.

Myoukou who was standing behind Yamashiro nodded before uttering a question.

"So are we advised not to attack at the patrols if we spot one?" Myoukou questioned.

"Same rules as Shoukaku, do not engage unless fired upon." Admiral Goto immediately answered.

"What about the abyssal princesses stationed in Tinian? Are we supposed to bypass them as well?" Shoukaku interjected.

"Bypass them as much as possible. We need a foothold first and once Saipan's sea region is clear I will send in two more additional fleets carrying additional supplies for our next operation the day after." Admiral Goto added.

"And that is?" Shoukaku unknowingly asked.

"Sinking those _princesses_ of course, also—" Admiral Goto then placed a notepad beside the map on his table. "The dossier if anyone's interested."

Shoukaku took the notepad and examined the names written on it. It was a list of shipgirls that were selected for this operation.

"The First Fleet—the original First Fleet?!" Shoukaku unknowingly shouted.

"Well-well, look who's finally joining the party?" Yamashiro leaned back and said those words sounding aloof.

"Four years yeah? They've been inactive as a whole fleet for four already." Myoukou shook her head and took a glance at the members of the first fleet listed on the notepad.

Shoukaku examined the names listed on the first fleet roster. She knew most of the ones listed here since most of them were part of the first batch of shipgirls that were summoned during the first years of the abyssal war.

However, one name in particular did not ring any bells to her.

"Niyodo?" Shoukaku placed her right index finger at the name and pointed her attention at Admiral Goto.

"Ooyodo's unbuilt sister." Admiral Goto answered.

It really didn't ring any bells to her so she scanned the other names listed on the 14th and 4th Main battle fleets.

"Looks like Myoukou-san's fleet will have new members as of today."

"Eh?" Myoukou glanced at Shoukaku having caught off guard by the announcement.

With the notepad on her hand Myoukou immediately looked at the names that were listed as _new_ on the roster. Among the list are two new carriers, two heavy cruisers, and two battleships.

"Their names don't ring any bells at all." Myoukou worriedly said.

"That is because all of them are paper ships, with Amagi being the only one who is actually built during the later years of the Second World War." Admiral Goto replied as he sat back into his chair.

"Have they received any basic training from Nagato and Yuubari yet? Have they at least got any experience sailing on a straight line?" Myoukou pressed for an answer.

Admiral Goto could only shake his head in denial. Both of his hands were intertwine on the map as he raised his head towards Myoukou.

"They are only two days old. I had to do this so that the routinely patrols won't be undermanned and thus giving us a headache on resource deficiency."

"Two days old? Two days old?! You are sending a group of two day old shipgirls on the frontlines with just a day's worth of training?! What's gotten in your head, Admiral?!" Myoukou angrily asked as she slams the notepad at the table.

"Myoukou-san!" Shoukaku placed her right hand on Myoukou's shoulder.

"Admiral, for the love of god; Please don't do this. Delay the operation for at least a week. A week is feasible enough to train them on how to sail straight as well as teaching them how to fire their guns or how to launch their planes—"

"Delaying the operation for another week would cost us 5,000 dead personnel and a staging zone for a future operation of liberating Hawaii. Furthermore, the _Royal Circle_ has already found out that Saipan was cut-off and the soldiers posted in Tinian and Saipan are obliterated. Regaining _sea superiority_ is a must if we are to retake Tinian and destroy those airfields, the _Royal Circle_ does not want the operation to be initiated tomorrow." Admiral Goto interjected; his voice cold as ice.

The room was immediately shrouded with silence. Neither Shoukaku nor Yamashiro had any words to say on the topic.

The _Royal Circle_ , a group of _monarchist_ politicians that have total control over the Japanese Diet and the Military Branches. The circle is notorious for its aggressive orders and unreasonable commands.

With this circle, the Emperor has total control over the Japanese Government and its subjects.

Unable to say anything in return Myoukou gritted her teeth and said "Fine" as she places both her right hand's index finger and middle finger on her brows.

"Seriously, I have a bad feeling about this." Yamashiro loudly muttered as she started from Myoukou's face and into map.

"You always have a bad feeling about everything, Yamashiro-san." Shoukaku jokingly retorted.

"Hey now, don't jinx me or something. Anyway since it seems that you don't have anything to say anymore for this matter. I will be taking my leave now, since I urgently need my time at the docking area." Yamashiro stood up from the chair and slowly approached the exit. "Also, I'll be keeping this until my sister finds out about it." Yamashiro let out a smirk as she opens the door and headed outside.

"Shoukaku, before you go I have something to say." Admiral Goto then turned her attention towards Myoukou. "Myoukou-san, gather up the new shipgirls and debrief them about the operation that we will be having."

Myoukou only nod and salute as she walked towards the exit without a word ever uttered.

"What is it, Admiral?" Shoukaku asked as Myoukou closed the door.

Admiral Goto took a glance at the names listed on the notepad, he wondered whether it was okay for him so say it but then again—

"Akagi is on the repair docks and there has been no word from Akashi when she will be getting out. So for now, your fleet will merge with Kaga's fleet with her being the flagship and you on the second command. Your mission will still be the same and once you arrive at the five kilometer mark you will detach from Kaga's fleet. They are there, to serve as a screen for your fleet." Admiral Goto elaborated.

"Is that so? Shoukaku blankly said.

"Kaga's fleet will have different job to do. Also I want you to detach Niyodo from Kaga's fleet and get her to Saipan…in one piece if you could. Does that sound _unreasonable_ to you?" Admiral Goto clarified.

Shoukaku shook her head in denial. She then placed her hand on her chest armor and gave Admiral Goto a smile.

"I am not Zuikaku who gets easily angry when tasked on escorting something. She's a person who wants to go to the fry head-on after all." Shoukaku softly replies.

"The scale of the region requires such massive fleet of shipgirls to be assembled. Shoukaku, I want you and the others to be on guard at all times. This operation would mark the first time I've ever sent large quantities of shipgirls into the frontline." Admiral Goto lowered his head and stared at the layout of the Marianna's Region.

"If you say so, then I will be taking my leave." Shoukaku saluted and headed towards the exit.

Admiral Goto took the notepad placed on top of the map. He took another glance at the names that were included for the operation. There are around twelve shipgirls on the 5th MBT roster that were listed, another twelve from 4th MBT roster, sixteen on the 14th MBT roster, and another sixteen shipgirls from the 1st MBT roster, for a grand total of 57 shipgirls overall for this operation alone.

And among those 57 shipgirls are six newly summoned shipgirls that don't have any battle experience whatsoever.

"Is it really necessary?"

Admiral Goto wondered once more just like the time when he had a draft of the included list. He wondered once more whether it is okay to bring in extra carriers, heavy cruisers and battleships for this operation. He wondered and remembered Zuikaku's fleet from a recent sortie on Marianna's Region.

A total of four shipgirls were heavily damaged and two shipgirls sank but was successfully recovered. The lack of air supremacy was the problem indeed, and the fighter planes as well as the diver bombers and torpedo bombers in the arsenal are already too outdated in this stage of the war.

Larger and more maneuverable abyssal fighters are already taking the skies. Robust abyssal planes are making the fighter fairies have a hard time taking them down. A dire need of new aircraft was need.

"I need to discuss this with Akashi and Asahi right now." Admiral Goto muttered, "Shoukaku and the Zuikaku are the only ones who can operate the new jet fighter and bombers."

Having lost Zuikaku three days ago, only Shoukaku has the complement to launch the new planes and she alone can't defend a fleet that's as massive as this one.

"That's one problem to worry about—"

"Arimato"

A call of his name got him out of his world of questions. Standing in front of him is the shipgirl that was known by everyone as _the one who's scarier than Admiral Goto._

"Ooyodo" Admiral Goto uttered her name.

Ooyodo stared at Admiral Goto with a cold expression. Her eyes glanced at the notepad and saw the name she was hopping not to see.

"Why? Why! Why am I removed from the roster and was replaced by my little sister?! Is this how you punish me?! Is this your punishment to me because I was not by your side for three days?!" Ooyodo shouted at the top of her lungs grabbing Admiral Goto at the collars and pulls him closer to her furious face.

"Ooyodo, please calm down! Listen to what I'm going to say!" Admiral Goto pleaded but it only made Ooyodo furious even more.

"Calm down?! Calm down you say?! Why would I fucking calm down, Huh?! Would you calm down if your sister was written on a certain roster that's going to be sent in the frontlines without any sort of battle experience?! She can't even sail straight!" Ooyodo shouted.

"I won't calm down if that is the case. But listen to what I'm saying. I've already consulted both Kaga and Niyodo about this and both of them agreed. Kaga promised me that she will keep a close watch on her during the ope—"

"You unforgivable bastard!" Ooyodo interjected.

Using all of her strength, Ooyodo pulled Admiral Goto from behind the table and slams him into the wooden floor. Although the wooden floor was not broken it was still enough to shake Admiral Goto's consciousness in the process.

"You, unforgivable, insufferable, heartless, bastard!" Ooyodo climbed on top of Admiral Goto placing herself on Goto's stomach, pinning him down. Her fist was hard as rock and she didn't hold back as she threw it on Goto's way.

"Ahk!"

One, two, four, nine, a total of nine jabs were thrown at him all of them hitting his cheeks, forehead, and nose. Blood was pouring out of his nose and some on his lips but he did not fought back, he deserved this after all.

"She can't sail straight, she can't shoot straight, she can't even carry her riggings straight but she is the only thing that I have. She is the only thing that I have that I call a family. She is the sister that I always yearned. You will not take her away from me!" Ooyodo shouted, tears coming out of her tear ducks as she prepared another jab with her blooded right arm.

"—!"

Before Ooyodo could land the jab though, Goto grabbed her fist with his left hand and yanked it sideward. He then placed his right hand on Ooyodo's left shoulder and pushed her sideways. With her back placed on the wooden floor, Goto then leans in and held her arms above her.

"I can't lose you or the kid that's inside you dammit!" Goto shouted.

"What?" Ooyodo was caught off guard, "Ho-How did you—?"

"I saw a letter left behind on my table after you stormed out of my office. It talked about you having a baby girl and it said that it was already three months old. Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Goto eyes were warming up, tears were pouring out of his tear duck as he leaned closer and closer to her.

Ooyodo averted her eyes. Her arms were pinned on top of her head, making her hopeless of fighting back. She squeezed the words that were about to come out of her throat but as she glanced back to Goto, they only poured out like a river.

"I-I wanted to tell you…But at the same time, there was this feeling inside of me that you wouldn't want it." Ooyodo tearfully replied averting her eyes away from the one she loved.

"What are you talking about?" Goto asked as he leaned his forehead against hers, "I am the happiest man you could possibly think right now." Goto warmly said as slowly placed both of his hands on her warm cheeks.

"I-I-!" Ooyodo gushed out the tears that she was holding in and wrapped around her hands around Goto's back.

"I told, Niyodo about this. She was so happy when she learned about this, I told her that you will be sortieing with Kaga soon for this operation and she singlehandedly said that she will take your place so that you can stay here and rest. She said 'Now's my time to show my worth to her!' she was so proud of it…I beg of you, please stay. Don't betray her feelings now." Goto pleaded once more at Ooyodo.

Ooyodo strengthens her grip around Got and pulled him closer. Her breath reached his and his reached hers.

"Damn you…"

Ooyodo moved forward pressing her warm lips against his. The rough texture of his lips got her attention. His black hair was rustling as she touched them with her left hand.

"Hmmng~"

Goto separated his hand away from Ooyodo's cheeks and placed them on her side.

She was burning up to the point that she couldn't hold herself anymore.

"Hmmg~ dammit." Ooyodo separates her lips from his and cursed silently at Goto's flushed face. "Aren't I supposed to get angry at you right now? Why am I being dominated by you?" Ooyodo asked as she pulled Goto closer again for another intimate kiss.

Goto separated himself away from Ooyodo and stood up from above her. He then offered his hand towards her helping her get up.

"Fine, you'll get your punishment next time." Ooyodo softly announced as she grabbed Goto's hand.

With enough force Goto was able to pull the cruiser up and into his arms. Her arms were wrapped around his body and her head leaned against his chest.

"I don't want to betray her feelings, but—"Ooyodo silently muttered.

"She'll be fine. The first ring is watching her after all. I promise you, she will come back to us."

Ooyodo raised her head towards Goto, the glint of the light bulb reflected on her glasses.

"You better promise me." Ooyodo said with an authoritative tone.

"You have my word." Goto reassured, wiping away the tears off her cheeks. "You can torture me if you want if she returns with a scratch on her rigging." Goto added.

Ooyodo let out a faint chucker as she heard Goto's unnecessary remark. With her left hand, Ooyodo caressed Goto's left cheek and said with a soft tone.

"You better be, because I will be count on that unnecessary remark."

Goto smiled and caressed Ooyodo's head. Her long silky black hair touched Goto's rough palm. He then grabbed Ooyodo's glasses revealing her naked greenish-blue eyes that were still glimmering from her recent exchange with Goto.

"I am terribly sorry, Ooyodo…For hurting you this way."

"Stop apologizing already, you are making yourself look pathetic. Its fine, I go talk to her this afternoon about this. Stop it, aren't you supposed to be an admiral?" Ooyodo toyed Goto a bit by giving him a joking tone.

"Well, in front of my wife, I think I am just a normal man. Please don't leave my side every again." Goto wrapped his arms around her, her warm breath coming on his chest and her hand tugging at his back.

"You just wanted me to help you finish your paper works, how sly of you Admiral." Ooyodo blatantly replied.

"Don't put it that way, you're making me look like an asshole." Goto retorted.

"I was supposed to come here to report that my fleet is ready and that Niyodo just finished her basic training from Nagato this morning but as it turns out I arrived here witnessing the two of you shouting, cursing, before finally resorting to violence until the two of you started doing _intimate_ things…am I missing something here?"

Goto immediately raised his head away from Ooyodo hair and looked at the newcomer peeking at the front door.

"Ka-Kaga!" Goto called.

"Hmm, I feel a bit disturbed here." Kaga ominously said.

"Goto~ Come back here~" Ooyodo reached up, her hand wrapped around Goto's neck and pulled him closer to her lips.

"Alright I've had enough. I'm having my fair share." Kaga stoically announced as she peeled away Goto from Ooyodo.

 **BETWEEN THE LINES**

A man wearing thick leathered jacket entered a spacious room. Candle stands were placed along the pavement that leads to the altar where a man wearing a red priest attire had his back facing towards the newly arrived man.

The man was holding a cylindrical canister that's three feet long and two feet wide. Blood and German etchings could be seen written along the canister.

"I believe my associate did their job correctly." The newly arrived man said as he placed the cylindrical canister on a wooden table.

"Is that so? How was your trip pass the English Channel? Mr. Sudnerland?" The priest asked still facing towards the group of unlit candles.

"Oh it was fine actually with the help of your _beautiful escorts_ it was actually a very pleasing ride." The man named Sudnerlard elaborated a sneer emerging out of his face. "They had fine bodies indeed. The one with the long hair damn, those thighs are thick!"

"Ah? Is that so? It seems you had your time indeed."

The priest slowly turned around his hand holding a pistol. With a swift motion the priest immediately fired his pistol at the newly arrived man, killing him instantly.

"Yes, they did well. Now your services aren't needed anymore." The priest said with an ominous tone to the corpse of the man collapsed into the ground. He then grabbed Sudnerland's collar and pulls him towards his face.

"Also, they are the queen's servants! Not your play things!" The priest shouted emptying the pistol's magazine on the corpse's heard.

"They really did a messy retrieval of the package."

"Yes, blatantly storming the embassy and killing everyone they see. That is not how we make business, Woljek." The priest holstered his pistol and wiped away the blood that was splattered on his face. He then stood up from his crouched position and placed a hand at cylindrical canister.

A man wearing business attire emerged out of the shadows and took a glance at the canister that was placed on the table.

"So, now that _her_ piece is retrieved. What do we do now?" The man named Woljek asked.

The priest had a sinister smile on his face as he opened the canister lid revealing the contents inside.

"The _queen_ spoke about convergence once the shard is retrieved. Now, now, now, finally the Unitology can start its move." The priest replied, letting out a sinister laugh.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **[1] I classified Ooyodo's eye color as 'greenish-blue' because I cannot find the proper name of her eye color. Using Photoshop didn't help either. For now, her eye color classification is still temporary.**

 **[2] Fustaku haven't named his titan yet unlike Sel who nicknamed her VT-01 titan as Venset. So I'll be calling his titan as VT-04 until a name idea pops up.**

 **[3] Zuikaku's alter ego abyssal personification/symbiote is called Orizuru...**

 **[4] I am still having problems on how to classify Zuikaku's hair color. Whether it should be grayish-green or greenish-gray.  
**

 **[5] Akashi's Green Fluid that she engineered together with Asahi is now officially named Repair Formula. And I'll be calling it that way from here on out.**

 **[6] As of now...our Kuso teitoku has sunk two veteran shipgirls out of the 40 First Batch Shipgirls that were summoned. Specifically Zuikaku and Atago... I hope he won't fuck up on the upcoming chapters.**

 **[7] As always feedback's are always appreciated. Some grammatical errors will be seen here and there, that'll be fixed immediately if I come across one. Please forgive the sloppiness o7**

 **[8] Literal translation of what Fustaku said here is [Bitch I was asleep?] Ps. Google Translate is unreliable.**

 **[9] 'Tang Ina' is like a slang of 'Putang Ina' which literally translates to 'Bitch' or 'Whore Mother' or 'Motherfucker' your choice between the three.  
**


	31. Extra Chapter 31-A

**Those who had enough**

Time is something that is constant. It moves and it does not stop for anything. It will not pause nor cease its tick if you suddenly found yourself at the verge of death. It does not pause when you suddenly found yourself at the receiving end of the enemy's gun barrel.

Time is constant, and it will forever will.

"What is not constant however—"

 **Is sanity—**

Sanity is like a mana bar or a health bar if we talk about game mechanics. If the mana bar is depleted you cease to produce magic and if the health bar is depleted you die. However there are mechanics that grants the player the chance to regain that spent mana points or health points.

Sanity however, it's a different story.

Now let me ask you this. What do you think would happen if a person who's mental state is unstable and was sent to a place where death, gore, murder, blood, flesh, bones, brains, fluids, ammo, sweat, tears, tissues, and disemboweled muscles….are erupting all around you?

Will the said person accept everything heads first and proceeds as if things are just okay?

"Or—"

"Ah meat!"

"Would the said person loose its sanity?"

With thick chains wrapped around its neck and body I-8; a Junsen Type J-3 submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was summoned by Admiral Arimato Goto during the early years of the Abyssal War; leaped forward when she saw my presence entering the room.

"Ueyk!" I-8's legs flew forward when the maximum length of the chain was achieved locking her on a specific distance.

She was part of the original 40—first batch shipgirls that were summoned by Admiral Goto's summoning technique. Out of the 40, first batch shipgirls, I-8 was labeled _Shipgirl 13_ in the naval records.

"Ah! Meat! Meat! Come closer so that I could eat you!"

One of the prominent shipgirls that was tasked of breaking out of the Abyssal blockade that was surrounding Japan. She was also one of the ten shipgirls that reached the shores of Vladivostok the day after the blockade was lifted.

"Goddammit come closer!"

She was known as the _Megane Kraut_ by the naval personnel because of her questionable interactions with the Marine Guards. She was friendly and respected by everyone, not because she was part of the _First Batch_ but because of her prowess when it comes to submarine interjections and transportation escorts.

"Today's menu is a To-class carcass." I said to her as I placed the silver plate from my hand to the steel floor.

Drool were pouring out of her mouth as she twitched and wriggle towards the plate that I placed on the floor. Despite being a submarine known for their swimsuit attire, I-8 is currently wearing nothing.

"AHHH!"

Her blond hair was unkempt. Her skin was pale like the white cushion that was surrounding the room and the rims of her eyes were crimson hued like the blood stains that were smudged all over the room.

"Mine! Mine!"

A smile suddenly surfaced out of my mouth as I saw her struggle to break free from the chains that were keeping her in place. The nails of her finger tips were already so dark that you would think that she applied black nail polish on them but they are actually her own blood, clotting underneath her finger nails.

I moved closer and removed a syringe from my lab gown and removed the plastic that was covering the needle. With my dominant hand I grabbed the depressant drug bottle from my breast pocket and inject the needle on a small hole located at the bottle's cover.

With my right thumb I slowly pulled the thumb press of the needle so that the pressure would suck in the drug into the syringe container. I extracted 20 grams of depressant fluid from the bottle. 20 grams is the minimum amount of depressant fluid that should be applied to I-8 during meals, anything more than that would just give I-8 a hard time swallowing the food.

"Now, sit~"

With a soft tone I ordered I-8 to sit, she gladly followed, her tongue coming out of her mouth like a dog.

"Good girl!"

With a needle on my hand I immediately injected her with the drug immediately stunning her on a sitting position.

"Phew"

With a light sigh of relief I leaned closer to her eyes and checked whether she has calmed down or not, by judging the size of her pupils. It was wide open, that is good since that indicates that I have five minutes to wrap the feeding process before the drug fades.

Hastily I unloosed the chains and ran toward the exit. The door is made of thick steel, I-8 can't break through this with sheer strength.

After five minutes the drug faded and with that I-8 immediately sprung into life jumping heads first into the silver plate and eating the To-class carcass that was recovered from a recent sortie.

"Dinner time, check~" I humbly said as I put a check mark on the notepad. "I need to eat dinner too~"

My shift has finally ended. A few hours from now another _watcher_ would take my place for taking care of I-8. Taking care of her is a risky and annoying job but seeing her with a wide smile, black blood, painted all over her face. Somehow, it gives me this feeling of pleasure.

"See you tomorrow~" I announced on the microphone leaving I-8 dashing towards the see-through glass, face first.

The amount of force that she exerted shook the room but it was not strong enough to actually break the glass. After all that glass was designed and made by Akashi herself~

The nails on her fingertips slid on the glass painting red vertical lines towards the lower rim of the see-through glass. She was bashing her head back and forth until she finally had enough and dashed away from my vision.

With I-8 figure's out of my field of view I placed my dominant hand on the door knob and performed a clockwise motion, retracting the locking mechanism from its locking position. By exerting a pulling force the door opens uttering a squeaking noise due to the rust build up on the door's hinge as well as the lack of lubrication.

"Hmm~Hmm~"

Standing behind the door is a pink haired shipgirl wearing a serafuku uniform with a black, light brown and gray pattern. She was smiling towards me with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together on her back.

"Hmm~ how is she? Did you treat her properly?" She asked.

Her tone and the way she said the last part with a prolonged pitch gave me a sudden chill on my spine. My legs moved back a bit unconsciously, who would've thought that _this_ woman would visit the special wards.

"I-I did-did my part cor-correctly, ma'am. I've already given her breakfast, lunch and dinner. The same regular meals were distri-distributed as ordered and hourly checks were made." I stuttered as I replied to her intimidating presence.

Slowly this shipgirl named Yura finally opened her eyes. Her cold and empty eyes were staring back at me. Her façade smile was no longer present on her expression…her hands were still clasped behind her back.

"Hmm~ that's good-that's good. You are doing your job as a _warden_ spectacularly well _._ " She replied giving me another fake smile with her head tilted a bit on her right.

"Tha-Thank yo—"

"However, she is still my colleague you know? You don't treat my colleague like a dog like you…"

~O~

I tried removing the stains but it was hopeless. The _dog_ is already dead. I gave him the reward that's suitable for a job well done. His body is currently on the floor and a large pool of blood could be seen surrounding his _corpse_ with his head rolling towards the entrance leading to Hachi's room.

Good thing I wrapped Hachi's present with a thick plastic bag preventing the dog's blood from staining the present. With a soft sigh I kicked the dog's leg away from the door so that it would close properly. I then grabbed the wet towels from the drawer located near Hachi's room.

I took six 16-in long towels and placed them on the door's base, preventing the _dog's_ blood from seeping out from the small gap separating the door and the white tile.

After doing that, I removed the thick plastic that was covering the present and threw it on the trash bin. Gently placing the present on the _dog's_ table I then opened the present and took two candles with the first imitating the number 'One' and the other imitating the number 'Eight'.

A smile unknowingly emerged out of my face. Using a matchstick I lit up the small candle strings at the tips of the numerical candles. Two bright flames were gently swaying on top of the present that I brought.

With my preparations completed, I headed towards Hachi's room and took a quick side glance at the see through glass. There was no sign of her presence. Despite that I gently unlocked the door and opened it.

"Ha-chan~?" I called out.

I caught a glimpse at the side of my vision prompting me to make a counterclockwise turn forward. A few seconds later I saw Hachi falling down to the ground as if she missed her chance of catching me.

"What are you doing~?" I said as I walked towards her and helped her get up.

"Yura~Yura~" Hachi whimpered as she saw my gaze.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You came~ you really came~!"

I let out a soft sigh and placed the present on the steel tiles. The fire was still lit up, for a moment there I thought that the fire faded away after my sudden dodge.

"Although today is not your _real_ birthday, but since both of us were summoned at the same time five years ago I reckon that we should celebrate our summoning day together so…Happy Birthday, Ha-chan." I said to her.

She immediately looked down at the present and took a glance at it. She didn't know what to do so I tapped her shoulder and imitated a gesture on how to blow a candle. She failed a couple of times then finally she blew it off.

"Congratulations, you are now officially five years old Ha-chan~!" I announced giving her a warm hug.

"Ah~Ah~AH~!"

Hachi, broke down into tears as she embraced me with her slender arms. Her situation was atrocious, blood stains could be seen all over her furniture-less room. A couple of scratch marks here and there, signifying that she was in deep state of dementia while I was gone for a while.

Slowly I separated from her and sat on a squatting position.

"You've done your part in this war. Time for you to rest…" I said to her as I took a butterfly knife from my skirt pocket and equally sliced the small caramel cake in four. "Forgive me for not being here for a while. I've been sent by my husband to watch over a shipgirl who did something bad. Good thing nothing happened to her while she was on her maiden voyage~" I said as I took a piece of the equally sliced cake to my mouth.

"Husband…?"

"Oh, I meant Admiral Goto of course." I happily announced after I swallowed the cake down my throat.

At this moment Hachi suddenly became silent. She had this look on her face that I couldn't describe in simple words. She was staring at the cake too and was gently touching the tips of her fingertips.

"I am sorry for letting him down. If it wasn't for me…..I could've stopped Atago and the other destroyers from—"

"Atago finally returned you know? In one piece that is…. She returned with her sisters Takao, Maya and Choukai last year. There was this small party you know, after she was saved by the 8th Fleet~!"

"—?!"

Hachi was staring at me baffled. Her mouth was moving a bit on a up and down motion as if she has something to say but her mouth refused to let it out.

Finally, the words escaped her lips.

"—How?! How did she come back in once piece when I saw her with my two eyes, how she tried fending off twenty battleships on her own!? She was wounded all over, two of her limbs were gone, and her sides were no longer there. Her shoulder—limply hanging on the right, she was standing on her own….she had burn marks all over…..how?! How?! How?!"

Gently, I grabbed her shaking hands and held them. She raised her head towards me seemingly confused.

"I know it's hard for you right now to accept that she finally returned alive. I know it's hard for you to accept the fact that you failed to save four shipgirls on that day but she's finally here Hachi….you did your best…she came back and that's all that matters. You did what you could on that day." I said to her.

I slowly separated my hands from hers. Hachi has been diagnosed with a heavy strain of PTSD that causes her to do self-harm tendencies. She's acting this way because she cannot accept the fact that Atago and the others on her small fleet sank on that day…how she failed from saving them from their demise.

The first signs of her disorder immediately surfaced after she reported that Atago's small fleet was obliterated and none were saved upon return. Arimato didn't bashed her for being incompetent but rather…Arimato felt relieved that Hachi returned home, he was very happy that someone from that four man fleet came back alive and reported back at him.

Although, I knew Arimato was hiding his true feelings underneath that _smile_ of his, I knew that losing Atago and two of his best destroyers took a toll on him. He didn't sleep for two weeks, he didn't eat for a week, he didn't dare sorting a single shipgirl from the naval base for almost two days, and he even recalled all shipgirls from all over the Japanese outer naval bases and gathered them to Yokosuka.

But the one who really took all the pain was Hachi, every day I would catch her wounding herself as punishment for coming back alive. It didn't last long however, because after two weeks her mind finally collapsed.

And here we are, inside Hachi's room. Hachi's…. own personal reality.

Every record that lists her as part of Atago's small fleet was censored, officially rewriting the whole story from the original 'four shipgirl sortie' into a 'three shipgirl sortie.'

That is to avoid...bashing from the other shipgirls. After all Atago is seen as a legendary shipgirl from the other younger shipgirls at that time...and loosing their idol like that is like—

"I terribly sorry…But I must go now." I announced as I slowly stood up from my squatting position.

Telling a believer that what they believed in is a lie...

"Ah, I see…" Hachi replied calmly.

How fragile they are...

"Don't worry, Ha-chan. I'll be visiting you from time to time so doing worry." I said as I slowly walked towards the exit. "Also I have another present for you…"

I ducked down and grabbed the _dog's_ head from the ground and revealed it towards Hachi. With a light tone I said to her—

"Eat it cleanly okay?" I then threw the head inside the room and slowly closed the door and locked it.

As soon as my presence was gone from her room, Hachi returned to her _madness_ state. Dashing forwards towards the head she then immediately started munching on it….All a while I was observing her from the see-through glass. It still bothered me how she's normal when my presence is present inside the room and how psychotic she is when I am not.

"I'll be back tomorrow. I promise." I faintly announced as I hastily walked towards the exit.

I wouldn't want Arimato knowing that I visited Hachi without her permission. Though, he's going to have to find another replacement for her warden. And I will make sure that a proper one will watch over her.

Before I wrap up everything here, I must meet someone before I leave the medical ward.

Her room was located at the very edge of the second floor. There are two guards waiting outside of her room and I had to take them out so that I wouldn't be hindered by their pesky questions like 'What are you doing here or what is your intention here?'

Seriously did they really think I would answer their questions if they asked kind enough?

With the two bulky looking guards out of the picture I curled my right hand and knocked at the steel door. I gave it two knocks but I received no answer. Not wanting to waste my time, I kicked the door open with my left leg.

"Seriously, I knocked twice out of politeness but you didn't even utter a single word. How rude can you possibly be?" I said to her curled body.

The woman I am taking to is a shipgirl just like me. Another shipgirl who was part of the first batch just like me and Hachi.

"Get up number two. You are the oldest among the shipgirls after Atago sank and apparently you are here cowering yourself like a one year old baby."

And by number two I am referring to shipgirl number 2, Aircraft Carrier Hiryuu.

"Hmm?" Hiryuu groaned as she fixed her posture into an upright squat.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Get up. The two of us knew that you aren't diagnosed with something that renders your capability to fight against abyssals into zero." I said to her as I threw her a pair of basic her attire.

A yellow kimono top with a greenish skirt, I also gave her a pair of G-cup bras and a spare of my underpants since I didn't have the budget to buy something like a _buy-one-take-one_ undergarments at a nearby convenience store.

"G-cup? Are you kidding me? I already bypassed that two years ago." Hiryuu complained as she took the bra from the ground and read the markings on it.

"I don't care just wear it for now and get a properly sized pair once you return to your room. Get up already I don't have much time to lollygag." I complained as I leaned my head out of the destroyed door checking whether there is someone outside.

"No..." Hiryuu loudly announced dropping the yellow kimono top to the ground.

"I can't risk it. Who knows when will be the next time that I would attack someone unknowingly. Hurting someone like Ermest-san was already too much for me…" Hiryuu lowered her head facing the clothes on the floor. "I just can't."

So is this it? Is this the end of the first aircraft carrier that was summoned by my husband to help defeat the abyssals in the pacific theater? Well this is disappointing.

"Then what about your half-sister, hmm? Are you just gonna say 'yep my time here is over so you should take over our fleet because I don't want to hurt anyone unknowingly' to her? Are you shitting me? If I was Souryuu-san I would've immediately punched you in the face." I said to her with a sharp tongue.

"Oh stop that. Souryuu wouldn't actually do that…" Hiryuu replied with a carefree tone.

"Is that so?"

I heard a familiar voice from my back. It was a cold voice, filled with hatred and remorse. I turn around to see who it was and by luck it was her, Souryuu—Hiryuu's half-sister.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I do this would you?" Souryuu asked as she hastily entered the dark lit room and grabbed Hiryuu at the collars, raising her into an upright position in the process.

As hard as a rock, Souryuu threw her dominant hand at Hiryuu's right cheek. She then followed it with a jab on the stomach before finally throwing another hook on Hiryuu's left cheek.

Blood were gushed out of Hiryuu's mouth staining the cold metal floor. Hiryuu's cheeks were badly swollen but she didn't fight back.

"Is that all?" Hiryuu asked with a faint tone.

"No." Souryuu immediately replied, "I'm not done yet." before throwing another hook on Hiryuu's neck.

Four minutes later, Souryuu finally had enough and released her bloodstained half-sister to the ground. She gave her multiple quick jabs, strong hooks, and a couple of uppercuts just to get her sister to think straight but I doubted those punches would get her to think straight, after all.

"You knocked her out." I said to Souryuu's who had her green kimono top stained with Hiryuu's blood.

"I did that intentionally. I doubt she would ever come out of this room if I hadn't knocked her out of her misery. I'll take it from here. I'll make sure that she'll attend the Emperor's special meeting on the Imperial Palace tomorrow." Souryuu spoke with a tired tone.

She then took Hiryuu's knocked body from the ground and carried her into a princess carry. She had the yellow kimono top that I brought covering Hiryuu's battered upper body.

"Well then see you tomorrow, Flagship Yura." Souryuu said to me as she walked pass me.

I followed her with my gaze until her figure was no longer inside my field of vision. I examined the room once more before getting myself out of this empty room.

"The all-knowing eye" I softly muttered as I touched the etching on the wall.

It was a drawing not an etching, an abstract drawing to be exact. It was crudely made and it looked like as if it was drawn using fingernails. Knowing Hiryuu, she could've drawn it using her fingernails.

There was no bloodstain however which was odd. Usually if you draw something on a sheet of steel using your fingernails you would get the tissues underneath your nails to be torn open or worse you could receive a bad broken nail.

Despite its abstractness I can still identify what she had drawn on the wall. After all I knew what this drawing is. I've seen it with my own two eyes.

"The eye of the queen"

Who would've thought that I would see you in this cell that's still filled with sanity and consciousness?


	32. Hopeless

You are only good in sea. Once on the ground you're **hopeless** like a kid

* * *

It was already 6:30 in the evening when a group of shipgirls entered Hosho's shop. A box wrapped around the other's grasp and the other holding a basket full of sweets.

"Surprise!" The six shipgirls shouted startling the poor light carrier who was preparing dinner.

"My goodness, please don't startle me like that~" Hosho dumbfoundedly complained at the six shipgirls that were giving radiant smiles at the light carrier.

"Well sorry about that, Hosho-san. Well we just wanted to thank you after all, for taking care of us these past two days." Amagi softly said as she presented a box towards her. "Here, please accept this as our gratitude towards you."

Hosho wondered what the present was after she bowed towards Amagi and received the present. With her ear pressed on the box she tried shaking it to make a wild guess on what the contents was.

"Hmm, no use." Hosho announced as she tore open the cover. "Uhhhh,"

Written in both bold and italic letters the words Thanks Mom! Were written inside a wooden picture frame that had a pristine red feather right below the words.

"Seriously, you kids! Stop calling me mother already~!" Hosho complained her cheeks beet red before she placed the wooden case on the table.

"Hmm? Looks like Hosho-san can't take it anymore…..ehh?!" Kurama's voice trailed as she saw Hosho breaking down into tears.

Ju ichi, a Kii-class battleship, rushed beside Hosho and immediately gave her a warm hug, lifting her feet off the ground in the process.

"Look at what you did! You made mama Hosho cry! Kurama you're such a meanie!" Ju ichi shouted whilst caressing the light carrier's head.

"Oh, please don't fight. Kurama didn't….these are tears of happiness, Ju ichi." Hosho interjected wiping away the tears of her cheeks. "I was just touched by the present. Thank you very much everyone." Hosho smiled brightly melting the hearts of the six shipgirls that were surrounding her.

"P-please don't, Hosho-san. You are killing us with cuteness here!" Ju ni complained as she dashed forward giving the light carrier another warm hug.

Hosho let out a warm laugh as she was finally released from Ju ni's grasp.

"Come upstairs everyone, dinner is almost finished." Hosho smiled as she took the case upstairs.

"Alright a free meal from Mama Hosho!"

"Zao calm down, you making such a ruckus!" Senjo who was following behind her pushed Zao forward.

"I just hope we'll make it to the sortie area in time…" Kurama's voice trailed from behind.

Amagi who was trailing behind her placed her hand on Kurama's shoulder as she leaned on her body.

"Myoukou-san said that we'll be sortieing after Yamashiro-san's fleet. So we'll make it in time." Amagi gleefully said as she separates her body away from Kurama's shoulder.

"Fine, if that's what Amagi-nee says then I follow."

"Good girl~" Amagi placed her slender hand on Kurama's orange hair and pats it side to side.

As their figures faded into the shadows of the second floor, two shipgirls that were seated near the front door gave themselves a sigh as they emptied their beer in a single gulp.

"The babies are sortieing soon and here we are getting ourselves drunk while they fight at the frontlines. Dammit it's giving me a bad after taste." Nachi complied as she poured beer on her cup.

"What wrong with you? You don't like your two day vacation?" Jun'yo gave Nachi a sneer as she emptied her cup of sake.

"Well, I did give Admiral Goto an hour long presentation just to give me a two day vacation. But the thought of Myoukou-nee, Ashigara, and Haguro sortieing on a single operation without me…doesn't that left me out?!"

Nachi broke down into a complaining cry. Jun'yo on the other hand could only let out a chuckle as she tried calming down her drinking partner.

"Oh, come on! Don't sober on me now! We just emptied our cups five minutes ago!" Jun'yo complained as she poured sake at Nachi's already filled cup containing beer. "Ah, shit~"

After wiping away the droll from her mouth Nachi took the cup and emptied it. Her eyes widened in shock, her hands scratching her neck like it was on fire.

"Ah shit~" Jun'yo swore once more as she ran upstairs screaming Hosho's name hysterically.

~o~

"Load up the AP shells, hurry!"

Beneath a certain naval base in Yokosuka is a sortie area where shipgirls are gathered to resupply ammo, fuel, and planes before a sortie.

"Goddammit, I told you that we will be bringing star shells! Why are you giving us searchlights?!"

"I am sorry Ooyodo-san, we will bring the spare star shells right now!" A maintenance worker immediately ran off towards the armory carrying the box of searchlights with him.

"Ooyodo, what's wrong? You seem to be on the edge today?" Fuso walked beside Ooyodo and placed a hand on Ooyodo's shoulder.

"This would be the first time my sister would sortie on a large operation. It's getting me edgy all of a sudden." Ooyodo replied worriedly.

With a shocked expression, Fuso tried her best not to utter a giggle but fails miserably when she saw Ooyodo's slightly blushed expression.

"What?!" Ooyodo yelled in irritation.

"Sometimes, the cold and composed Secretary-san can be cute too, don't you think?" Fuso replied as she tried escaping Ooyodo's clutches.

"Nee-sama! The fleet is ready to go!" Yamashiro waved her hand from the launch catapult.

Unable to escape Ooyodo's grasp Fuso was bombarded with Ooyodo's way of revenge which was tickling Fuso at the stomach.

"Goddammit, get away from my sister already!" Yamashiro yelled from the launch catapult.

"Go already. My sister will be sortieing with Kaga's fleet so I'll be here for a while." Ooyodo said as she finally got her revenge at Fuso who was heavily breathing on the guard rails.

Fuso nodded with a hazy smile as she staggered about until she reached her little sister's grasps. Yamashiro gave her sister a worried look but could only let out a short sigh as the yellow light lit up overhead.

"Ten catapults ready for lunch. First ten shipgirls are to proceed to ready positions." A female's voice echoed around the sortie area.

Ten shipgirls hurriedly approached the launch catapults and summoned their battle riggings. Two battleships, three heavy cruisers, two escort carriers, one light cruiser and three destroyers were waiting for the green light.

And the green light came—

"Aviation Battleship Yamashiro, Flagship of the 4th Main Battle Fleet sortieing!"

"Aviation Battleship Fuso, sortieing!"

"Heavy cruiser Ashigara, sortieing!"

"Heavy cruiser Furutaka, sortieing!"

"Heavy cruiser Kako, sortieing!"

"Light cruiser Yura, sortieing!"

"Escort carrier Taiyo, sortieing!"

"Escort carrier Unyo, sortieing!"

"Destroyer Nire, sortieing!"

"Destroyer, Suzuki, sortieing!"

"Destroyer Kamikaze, sortieing!"

"Destroyer Sakaki, here I go!"

In quick succession all ten shipgirls were launched in Mach 2 speeds eastward where Saipan was waiting. The supersonic boom that exploded inside the sortie area erupted, ringing the ears of the remaining shipgirls that were still doing their sortie preparations.

"Matsu! Why didn't you sortie?" Called a small carrier wearing a white and gray miko outfit.

"Ah, Shinano-san good evening~" Matsu turned around and performed a light bow. "It seems my engines aren't working properly again. Akashi told me not to sortie. For now Kamikaze-san is taking my place instead." Matsu explained.

"Eh? Is that so? That's a shame. Anyway have you seen Ooyodo somewhere around here?" Shinano asked as she hoists her bow around her body.

Matsu pointed her finger towards Ooyodo who was blankly staring at the opened bulkhead, her right hand placed at her midriff and her other hand tightly grasping the guard rail.

Shinano gave Matsu a bow before hastily walking towards Ooyodo. After passing a couple of shipgirls then and there, she finally reached the gazing Ooyodo.

"Ooyodo?" Shinano called.

"Do I really need to lie like that?" Ooyodo softly muttered.

"Ooyodo?!" Shinano called once more her tone a bit louder this time.

Ooyodo caught Shinano's call and slowly turned her attention towards her. With one hand on her midriff and the other crossed on her other hand, Ooyodo's expression darkened and her tone a little bit low.

"What do you want?" Ooyodo asked.

Shinano buried her casual expression and a more serious expression emerged out. There was this aura of intimidation surrounding her but Ooyodo didn't falter.

"High Command received something interesting….about you Ooyodo." Shinano spoke with a cold tone focusing her attention at Ooyodo's midriff.

"Something interesting about me? I guess it must be about my position in the combined fleet." Ooyodo replied.

Shinano expression soured, with a shrug she then walked towards the guard rails and leaned on it.

"Don't play coy with me, Ooyodo. Now tell me, why is there a sensitive document on Goto's desk regarding about you?" Shinano said a smirk slowly formed.

And just like that Ooyodo walked forward, grabbed Shinano's collars and raised her to the air, choking her in the process. Shinano's height was right around Ooyodo's chest, when she was raised in the air her chin was already way pass Ooyodo's head.

"Listen here brat. I do not care what you say behind my back. In terms of experience I have the edge here, you on the other hand—if I remember correctly you haven't even experienced fighting against an abyssal haven't you? Look this would be the last time I will be warning you, don't you dare touch Arimato…you hear me?" Ooyodo growled, her expression full of fury and dread, a murderous aura surrounding her.

"Hmmmm," Shinano on the other hand. "So it was true after all," Remained unfaltered, "About you having Goto's child."

"That's enough Ooyodo."

A gentle hand landed on Ooyodo's right shoulder. With a glance Ooyodo saw Yamato showing a worried expression.

"She has said enough I know, but put her down you are choking her." Yamato softly asked.

Out of pity Ooyodo let's go of Shinano's collar, dropping her to the cemented floor.

"You are the flagship of the Combined Fleet, at least do something like putting a leash around your younger sister." Ooyodo said as she walked pass Yamato as well as Shinano's cowered posture.

"Where are you going?" Yamato asked.

"Where else? I am going to where my sister is." Ooyodo replied, headed straight to the group of shipgirls that are preparing to sortie.

Left behind Yamato helped her younger sister Shinano stand up and gave her a flick on the forehead.

"I told you to let me do the talking. Why in the world did you do that?" Yamato softly shouted.

"I only asked her, what's wrong with that?" Shinano tapped the dust off her outfit and glared back at her older sister.

"We may be part of the Emperor's Guard but that doesn't mean you can be rude towards your fellow shipgirls!" Yamato finally let out the suppressed irritation towards her sister.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you been absorbed by the naïve thing that the others are battering about? When the war is over, that we'll receive peaceful lives?"

"I never said anything about that! The topic is about our job as the Emperor's Guards not about—"

"Shut-it already. Sooner or later, once all of this is over, we are just going to be scrapped all over again…" Shinano walked passed her older sister and hastily headed to the exit.

Not long after that Musashi arrive carrying Kiyoshimo on her shoulders.

"Hmm? What was that about?" Musashi curiously asked as she gave Kiyoshimo another piece of her apple candy.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Yamato…finally got the steam out of her head.

"Eh?"

"I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR OVER TWO HOURS NOW! YOU EVEN MISSED THE MEETING, GODDAMMIT! I SWEAR IF YOU MISS ANOTHER MEETING AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY REHABILITATE YOU MYSELF! AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR YOUNGER SISTER FOR ONCE OF YOUR TWO YEARS OF LIFE AS A SHIPGIRL!"

Musashi as well as Kiyoshimo were stunned, Yamato's been known for being a shipgirl that's seen as refined, so mature, and not easy to get angry. But what they were seeing now, Yamato who with a haggard hair and a panting expression, the façade that they identify Yamato was, crumbled into nothing.

"Anyhow, I will be stationed at Mamiya' store again awaiting orders…" A bright smile emerged on her face, "YOU FIND SHINANO THIS INSTANT AND BRING HER THERE, are we clear?" But was immediately overshadowed by Yamato's rare intimidating expression.

Musashi and Kiyoshimo simultaneously nodded as Yamato gave them a bright smile once more before turning around and headed straight to the exit.

"Mu-Musashi-san, was Yamato-san always that scary?" Kiyoshimo asked stuttering.

Musashi didn't reply, after all that was the first time she ever saw her older sister scaring her…the stoic and strong Musashi of all shipgirls.

~o~

 **Center Fleet: 144 kilometers away from Saipan**

 **Time: 1:20 A.M**

"This is Aviation Battleship Yamashiro of the 4th Main Battle Fleet, how copy over?"

Sailing on a Line Ahead formation, Yamashiro pressed the transmission button of her new radio that's capable of transmitting information all the way towards Yokosuka Naval Base.

"This is Niyodo, Solid copy over…wow these new radios are sweet!" Niyodo replied, unable to hold her gleeful tone.

"I know right? In the past we can only use Morse code as a mean of communications. Right now, I can really hear your cheery voice, Niyodo." Fuso replied with a soft smile on her face.

"Fuso-san, please don't woo me like that. You'll give me butterflies in this operation." Niyodo replied her tone a bit flushed.

Yamashiro turned her attention towards her older sister Fuso and gave her a pout of displease. Fuso could only reply with a smile in which Yamashiro saw and slowly looked away with a flushed expression.

"Anyway, you will arrive at the Marianna's Region in a couple of minutes. Please be reminded that once you enter abyssal territory you must crush the PROTOCON as soon as possible so that your equipment won't be damaged overtime." Niyodo announced her tone slowly turning serious.

Yamashiro nodded and changed the radio frequency of her transmitter into local allowing her to talk directly to the shipgirls under her command.

"Alright, I want everyone to slow down for about 3/4 of your original speed and form up into CF4." Yamashiro announced.

CF4 or Cruising formation 4 is a naval formation in which majority of the destroyers are formed on a two parallel line in the front, the carriers at the middle forming a vertical line, the battleships and battlecruisers forming a square surrounding the carriers and lastly the light cruisers and heavy cruisers forming two parallel lines at the rear.

"Ten seconds" Yamashiro announced.

Using her dominant hand Yamashiro took the PROTOCON from her rigging storage and prepared for entry. The PROTOCON had a circular shape and had a mist forming up at the core, it was similar to a snow globe.

The crimson tainted sea caught Yamashiro's attention which indicates that they are now at hell's front door.

"Crush the PROTOCON, now!" Yamashiro announced.

With the signal delivered, Yamashiro and the other shipgirls behind her crushed their PROTOCONS releasing the white mist that was contained inside. The white mist then surrounded their battle riggings before finally sticking on their battle riggings giving it a hued grayish color.

Nire, a small Tachibana-class destroyer, was the first one to enter abyssal territory, in anticipation she closed her eyes and cruised blindly expecting her rigging to let out a screaming crack.

Slowly she opened her eyes, not a single crack could be seen on her battle riggings, she let out a sigh and threw Sakaki, her sistership, a thumbs up gesture.

"4th MBF has entered the Marianna's region." Ooyodo announced, giving her gazing Admiral a nod.

"Has Myoukou and Kaga's fleet arrived at their respective approaches yet?" Admiral Goto asked peering over the 3D map showing the outdated data that they have gathered surrounding the Marianna's Region.

"Kaga's fleet that was tasked on sailing the northern route has already entered abyssal territory. Myoukou's fleet that was tasked on the south has entered at the same time as Yamashiro's fleet." Ooyodo replied updating the three arrows on the map.

"Good. By dawn they should arrive at Saipan in schedule." Admiral Goto said as he took a note pad that was placed on the map. "Six Battleships, Four Battlecruisers, Ten Carriers, Nine Heavy Cruisers, Seven Light cruisers, and lastly 20 Destroyers, the largest operation I have ever initiated…I hope they return safe."

~o~

[Hmm? What's this?! What's this?!]

[What? What?!]

[It seems we have trespassers in our territory, Re-chan!]

[Trespassers? Don't tell me those bloody shipgirls?! How many?!]

[There are 57 of them! This is the largest fleet of shipgirls I have ever seen!]

[Oh boy! Oh boy! I can't wait!]

[Assemble the Imps! We need to blitz them as soon as possible!]

The grins of the two abyssal princesses grew sinister as she overlooked the number of imps, destroyers, light cruisers, heavy cruisers, carriers, and battleships that were assembled on the beach.

[Now let's give them a welcoming party, shall we?]

~o~

 **Southern Fleet: 180 kilometers away from Saipan**

 **Time: 1:36 A.M**

"Say Myoukou, are you sure that it's okay to bring the six newbies along this large operation?" Chitose asked as sailed in parallel to Myoukou. A taint expression of worriedness could be seen all over her face.

"Now-now, every one of us started as a novice you know? We should at least give them a chance to prove themselves, you know?" Myoukou replied as she glanced at the new six shipgirls that were attached on her fleet.

"I know, I know, but-but we should have at least let Kurama and Amagi do some—"

"Both of them can launch and retrieve their planes you know?" Myoukou interjected.

Chitose was now starting to get anxious; she was glancing back and forth between the two new carriers and Myoukou's gaze.

"Alright-alright, tell the two of them to launch three groups of Saiuns bearings North, West, and East. Break formation and approach them, I don't want any of us breaking radio silence." Myoukou finally gave in.

Her anxiety immediately faded, Chitose then broke formation and sailed towards Kurama and Amagi.

"Amagi-san, Kurama-san, I would like to request the two of you to launch Saiuns at bearings North, West and East." Chitose softly ordered.

Amagi gave her sister a wary look but Kurama only gave a nod before she took a scroll from her waist.

"Understood, launching scouting parties now." Kurama announced.

With a bright glow, the paper planes on their scrolls moved before finally materializing into proper planes. Three groups of Saiuns flew pass their formation and headed straight to their assigned bearings. Amagi let out a soft sigh as she saw her younger sister having trouble reattaching the scroll on her waist.

"Sis, I told you to make a knot over your rigging." Amagi faintly said.

"I did try that but the scroll keeps slamming its cold surface on my thigh. I dislike it so I made a makeshift container instead to store it in." Kurama replied finally stuffing the scroll inside a twelve inch long leather container.

Amagi let out another sigh as she inserted the paper planes back into their container after that she rolled her flight deck like banner.

Despite being sisterships, Amagi and Kurama's style of launching planes are a bit different. Where is Amagi, launches her planes via her banner road flight deck that is adorned by a kagura suzu, her little sister Kurama launches her planes via a scrolled flight deck similar on how Hiyo, a light carrier, launches planes. However both of them are still shikigami-using onmyouji carriers that materialize paper planes into proper planes.

With the order finished, Chitose nodded before waving a hand to her fellow carriers as she return formation and waited for the intelligence report that the Saiuns could bring back.

"Say, Ju ichi."

"Hmm?" Ju ichi, a Kii-class battleship glanced towards her sister Ju ni.

"Don't you think that Chitose-san been on the edge lately?" Ju ni softly whispered making sure that no one else hears their conversation.

"Well you can't blame her, this fleet alone has six newbies. We just recently got out of Nagato-san's basic training that even Nagato-san was furious when Admiral Goto announced that the newbies will be receiving their baptism of fire a day after our basic training, seriously it was more like an orientation on what our specified jobs are rather than a proper hands on basic training. You should've seen how the two of them wrestled just to get into an understanding." Ju ichi replied whilst reminiscing the scene she saw on the training room.

Ju ni smiled in amazement as she listened to her sister's story who was in the training room discussing the numerous formations that will be used on a single sortie.

"It was unfortunate for me that I was still on the docks repairing myself after that unfortunate misfire." Ju ni replied with a downcast expression remembering the boring hours that she spent on the shipgirl repair docks fixing the wounds that she received during a live fire exercise.

Ju ichi rested a hand on her sister's shoulder and let out a light chucker. She still remembered how Ju ni jumped in between Terazuki and a rogue torpedo on yesterday's live fire exercise.

"You really like her don't you?" Ju ichi said with a teasing tone.

Ju ni tried her best to hide away her embarrassment whilst at the same time averting the gaze of her elder sister.

"Oh come!" Ju ni yelled having had enough of her sister's teasing.

"Fine-Fine~" Ju ichi slowly distance herself from her little sister and took a glance at a small destroyer at the front of the formation.

Ju ichi saw Terazuki frequently throwing quick glances on her general direction. Ju ichi knew who Terazuki was taking glances on, and when she saw how worried Terazuki's expression was during each quick glance, Ju ichi just couldn't keep it in on how gleeful she was realizing that there is someone else worrying about her little sister.

"Terazuki-san!"

"Eh?"

"Terazuki-san, I beg of you please stop staring at Ju ni-san already. Please do your job as a spotter properly." Isokaze, a Kagerou-class destroyer, pleaded her spotting partner to do her job properly.

Terazuki let out a forced laugh as she scratched the back of her neck, her eyes still glued at Ju ni's direction.

"For the love of god!" Isokaze yelled as she approached Terazuki and grabbed her checks and yanked them forwards. "You are in charge of watching what's in front of us not what's on our south!"

"Hehehehe, Isokaze-san that already hurts~!" Terazuki grabbed Isokaze's gloved hands trying her best to peel it off.

"Quiet both of you, we are in abyssal territory." Akigumo, a Yuugumo-class destroyer, hushed from behind Isokaze's column.

Akigumo took a glance at Yahagi who was carrying the latest radar among the group. Yahagi, an Agano-class light cruiser, shook her head gesturing Akigumo that there's nothing on her radar.

After her noticeable nod, Akigumo gave Tera-idiot and Iso-dumb a knock on the head for misbehaving. She then gave Myoukou a hand gesture where her middle and ring finger are pointing downward and her index finger as well as her pinky pointing upwards. This hand gesture alerts Myoukou that the perimeter is clear on a ten kilometer radius.

"Go-on Zao, tell her. There is nothing wrong on telling her." Senjo, an Ibuki-class heavy cruiser urged her sister Zao, her sistership, to share her thoughts to Myoukou.

"But sis, I do not have sufficient proof of this. Besides the dot only appeared once before disappearing a second later, Myoukou-san would just shrug this off." Zao tried her best explaining to her sister.

Senjo took a glance at her own deep water sensor and glanced at the position where Zao noticed a white dot. According to Akashi's explanation—

Blue dots signify Friendly presence, Red dots signify Enemy presence, and White dots signify unknown presence.

"We can't just overlook it…You know what? I'll tell her myself." Senjo announced as broke formation and sailed towards Myoukou.

"W-wait! Goddammit."

With a sliding motion Senjo sailed along Myoukou and tapped her shoulder. She then presented the sensor towards her and pointed her index finger at the location where the white dot was last spotted.

"Myoukou-san, Zao detected a white dot just a second ago." Senjo reported.

"Bearings?" Myoukou calmly asked.

"The distance was 8 kilometers, east from our position. The dot only appeared once before disappearing again a second later."

Myoukou took the sensor from Senjo's hand and turned her attention towards east. It was dark, very dark, and the only way that they could see each other was with the help of the moon's illumination.

She stared at the horizon and placed her hand at her left waist where a flare gun is holstered. She couldn't see what was beyond the horizon, slowly she gave the sensor back to Senjo and placed her right hand on Senjo's right shoulder, pulling her closer to her lips.

"Relay this to the others, Battle Formation, do not break radio silence. Prepare AP rounds for the first salvo and HE rounds for the second." Myoukou whispered as she leans away from Senjo's ear.

Senjo nodded and hurriedly sailed towards the back where the cruisers are sailing.

~o~

 **Northern Fleet: 150 kilometers away from Saipan**

 **Time: 1:40 A.M**

"Say, Kaga-san~"

"Hmm?"

"Mind if you could put me down now?" Niyodo gently asked as she scratched the side of her cheek.

"Admiral Goto instructed me to watch over you. You comfortably sitting on my shoulder are the least that I could do." Kaga stoically replied as she received the scout planes that she launched a few minutes ago.

"Seriously Kaga, Niyodo can sail on her own you know?" Katsuragi glanced beside her and uttered those words as she peels away her hand from her face.

Kaga shook her head once, not wanting to get Niyodo off her shoulder. Picture Kaga sailing on a straight line with Niyodo sitting on her shoulders with her battle riggings summoned. Katsuragi was still having trouble answering the very basic question of 'How can she carry a light cruiser that has battle rigging deployed?!'

"Kaga-san~"

"Hmm?"

"Please put me down. I can't feel my legs anymore~" Niyodo pleaded one last time.

"NO" And Kaga immediately answered.

"Uuuuuu~"

Sailing a few meters ahead of her Shoukaku took a glance at the veteran shipgirls sailing beside her. They were rather calm than usual, as if this was just another harmless escort sortie.

"You seem to be tensed up, Shoukaku-san."

Sailing on her left is a Shiratsuyu-class destroyer, Shigure. She had a black colored sailor uniform with red trims at the edges. She had black hair and blue eyes, she also had this distinct hairstyle that had others mistakingly describe her having dog ears.

"Eh? Ah, no-no, its nothing" Shoukaku replied with a dry smile.

Shigure angled her head a bit to the left seemingly confused about Shoukaku's reply. With a nod she places her hand on her shirt pocket and took a small red pouch that had red strings inserted on a wooden nut.

"Here take it. Despite its peculiar look this actually calms me down during tense times like this~" Shigure extended her hand towards Shoukaku with the red pouch on her gloved hands.

Shoukaku hesitated for a moment. For a moment she wondered if it's okay for her to receive something from the luckiest destroyer in the fleet. She wondered if this ornament would help her calm down too.

Despite her mind clouded with questions her body moved on its own, slowly retrieving the ornament from Shigure's small hand.

"Ah?! Ah…Thank you, Shigure-chan." Shoukaku says.

"No problem…"Shigure replied as she glanced up towards the sky, "Looks like we'll be meeting a pleasant rain soon."

"Nah, that's just my bad luck biting me on the ass." Katsuragi replied who was sailing in front of Shigure.

~o~

 **Southern fleet: 170 Kilometers away from Saipan**

 **Time: 1:55 A.M**

After relaying the message, Yahagi glanced towards the east and tapped her gun turrets. She then gave Senjo a thumbs up, as the cruiser group displaced into battle formation.

Senjo then sailed towards the center group where the Escort carriers and Standard carriers are, before finally reaching the destroyer group.

Myoukou was at the center and before long the fleet was already at battle formation. With her dominant hand raised in the air, she then lowers it to the right, gesturing the shipgirls behind her to turn to port.

"Hiyo, Chitose…guard the supplies well…" Myoukou said to herself as she glanced at Hiyo and Chitose carrying 12x24 metal containers. Each of them carrying four with two containers strapped on their backs, one on the shoulder and the other at the hip. And the last two containers carried on their hands.

Chitose on the other hand carried eight containers because of her special puppeteer cabinet style flight deck.

Senjo took her position which was at the outer rim of the battle formation which was formed like an arrow with the cruisers at the front while the carriers are located at the center and the destroyers at the rear.

She placed her hand at her chest, feeling her heartbeat pulsating rapidly.

"My first naval battle" Senjo muttered.

Myoukou raised her left hand forming a peace sign gesture. This signals the fleet to fire on her lead.

"Is about to begin—"

With a click, Myoukou took the flare gun from her waist holster and fired it straight to the air. The parachute burst out of the circular projectile containing the chemicals that would combust once the string connecting the circular projectile and the primer is pulled.

A bright white miniature sun emerged from the dark starry sky, illuminating both Myoukou's fleet and a large fleet of destroyers sailing head-on towards them.

In a swift motion Myoukou pulled the safety pins of her gun turrets hailing 16 AP rounds at the abyssal fleet in front of her. The muzzles of her gun turrets flashed prompting the others to fire as well.

"Now." Senjo uttered, firing her own 20.3cm cannons in front of her.

Red dots appeared at the horizon, each whistling their way towards the abyssal fleet that was caught off guard.

Countless water pillars rose up from the air as the shells landed around the abyssal fleet, obliterating those who were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of those projectiles.

"Amagi, Kurama. Recall the Saiuns and launch your TB's as well as your DB's, keep your fighters on standby until we find a carrier!" Myoukou pressed her index finger on her right ear and issued her orders.

"Now?! W-wont my pilots have a hard time in a condition like this?!" Kurama says.

"That is why we issued the two of you with night battle equipment personnel for a situation like this and not these containers that we are carrying! Launch them now we need to take care of this enemy fleet fast!" Hiyo shouted at the radio as she dodged an incoming AP round.

Kurama glanced at his sister Amagi who has already unfolded her flight deck. Amagi pointed her index finger at Kurama's waist where her scrolled flight deck was hanging.

"Launch yours first. I still need to perform an incantation." Amagi said as a shell landed near her, raising the water beside her upward.

"Amagi!" Kurama unknowingly shouted.

The water pillar shrank in size revealing Amagi's figure unscathed, "Launch them now!" Amagi shook her head before urging her sister to launch her planes.

"601st Torpedo Group, prepare to launch!" Kurama announced, as she unfolded her scrolled flight deck.

With her left hand's index and middle finger emitting a red glow she then moves it horizontally across her flight deck. Ten paper planes moved, and when they finally got off her scrolled flight deck they then materialize into proper planes forming two squadrons of Tenzans.

"Dive bomber Group, prepare to launch."

Repeating the same process again two squadrons of dive bombers takesoff and chased after the torpedo bombers that launched earlier.

"Isokaze, Terazuki, and Shiranui, prepare to fire four metal fishes at the front row of the light cruiser at bearings 2-6-5!" Myoukou issued another order.

Suddenly a strong beam of white light emerged from the center of the abyssal fleet. It was a searchlight, and the strong beam stunned the vanguard group shipgirls.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Chitose's voice rang on their ears as they lowered their raised hands that covered their eyes from the blinding beam.

Like a professional ice scatter Yahagi, Senjo and Zao leaned downward towards the right before applying a thrusting force to push themselves backward, away from their former positions.

Seconds later water pillars rose up from the water and into the air. The searchlight's beam moved again this time illuminating the center group composed of mostly carriers.

"I won't let you!" Zao shouted as she zeroed in on the white beam.

She fired two salvos, the first one missed and the second one scored a direct hit on the searchlight as well as a destroyer sailing beside it.

"Nice shot, Zao!" Yahagi cheered from the side.

A low rumbling noise entered their ears. It was the attack planes that were launched a while ago.

The Tenzans were forming a triangle shaped approach while the Dive bombers from above them formed an elliptical shaped formation.

"Drop them!" Kurama shouted.

The first one's that attacked where the diver bomber group, the loud scream of death from above soared at the night sky and the whistling sound that followed after it as the bombs were released from their wings and belly gave the shipgirls a slight boost in excitement.

Unable to see where the bombs were coming from the two abyssal heavy cruisers and the destroyers escorting them were hit. Some of the bombs found their mark lighting-up the unfortunate cruisers like it was made of polyester.

The Tenzans closed in, the fairies piloting them making sure to hit the burning abyssal cruisers who were preoccupied on taking out the fire. Flak fire that was shrouded in darkness were popping out like fireworks.

"OIOi! (Climb! Climb!)" The flight commander of the Tenzan Group shouted on her radio as they simultaneously detached their payloads.

Tenzans soared up into the air some were unfortunate enough to be shot down by abyssal flak.

"457th Torpedo Group and Dive-bomber Group, prepare to launch!" Amagi announced as she rotates her banner clockwise. "Now!" Amagi then stopped the lower most tip of the rod on her left before making a diagonal movement.

At the same time she made the diagonal motion the paper planes materialized at the tip of her banner rod flight deck. When they reached the top most edge of the rod they materialize into Tenzans. When it was finally the dive bomber's turn to launch Amagi was already at the end of the motion.

With a leaning stoke, Amagi rotates the rod clockwise using a single hand before moving it diagonal again on a backhand stroke.

The dive bombers materialized and chased after the torpedo squadron that was launched first. A total of 20 planes were launched.

"Amagi order your planes to chase after the fleet that immediately detached from the main fleet that we just obliterated. I don't want runners!" Myoukou's voice rang on the radio.

"Understood!" Amagi replied.

Myoukou grabbed the receiver attached on her battle riggings and changed the frequency of her radio from 'local' to the 'HQ' button.

"This is Myoukou. We just encountered a destroyer fleet with two cruisers as flagship. I repeat, the abyssals know we are here!"

~o~

"Dammit" Admiral Goto cursed slamming his dominant hand on the table displaying a 3D Map.

He did not expect the abyssals to intercept this quick. The plan was to bait them in towards Yamashiro's fleet and open a gap along the routes that Admiral Goto selected. But it seems he underestimated the number of abyssals in the area.

"Ooyodo, tell Myoukou to adjust course from bearing's 9-0 to 9-5. Perform ASW tactics for the next three kilometers and sail on a straight line for about 10 kilometers before repeating ASW tactics after." Admiral Goto raised his head from the 3D Map and ordered Ooyodo to relay the words that he said.

"Orders relayed." Ooyodo announced.

"Have we got any word from Yamashiro's Fleet?!" Admiral Goto stared the middle arrow that was still not updated for the past thirty minutes after they entered abyssal territory.

"I am receiving nothing, Admiral!"

"Keep trying! Do Morse code if you have to!" Admiral Goto shouted as he turned his attention at the northern fleet which has already sailed passed the island of Saipan.

"Any word from Kaga's fleet after their announcement that they have sailed pass Saipan?"

Ooyodo shook her head as she continued writing a message on a sheet of paper. "Admiral!"

Admiral Goto separated himself away from the 3D Map and took the paper that Ooyodo was holding, it says.

[Abyssal Fleet in combat, engaging, radio taken out of action, reverting back to Morse code to communicate!]

"Admiral!" Ooyodo called once more another sheet of paper on her hand.

[Engaging, Combined Fleet, 24 DD's, 30 SS, 16 CL's, 9 BB's, 2 CV's…Enemy CV sunk, Sasaki heavily damaged, 16 enemy DD's sunk, Kako and Taiyo heavily damaged, 9 enemy BB's sunk, Yamashiro heavily damaged, 16 enemy CL's sunk, requesting emergency repairs on Saipan.]

Admiral Goto crumpled the paper unknowingly. As he realized that the whole plan was already in shambles, with the Center Fleet already receiving heavy damage.

"Tell Yamashiro that the request for emergency repairs on Saipan is approved. Tell her to avoid any confrontation with the enemy at all cost."

"Got it." Ooyodo nodded as she hastily transmits the message in Morse code.

Admiral Goto approached the 3D Map that automatically updates information on every report that Ooyodo receives at the Fleet Facility Computer.

A hidden line could be seen being drawn at the center arrow indicating that the fleet has entered battle incapability. It also displayed the speed, direction and bearings of the said fleet.

"Admiral! Kaga's fleet is engaging an Abyssal Fleet!"

Admiral Goto took a glance at the 3D Map. An emoticon showing a abyssal fleet formation could be seen pinging approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Saipan. With his left index finger the blue arrow zoomed in showing the current fleet formation that Kaga issued as well as the conditions of the said shipgirls listed on the left hand corner.

Kaga's fleet was on Battle Formation, and was sailing in parallel with the Abyssal Elite's fleet that is composed of: 6 CV's, 12 BB's, 23 DD's, 15 CA's and 12 CL's.

Kaga's fleet is outnumbered…

In terms of firepower and planes, with a swift motion Admiral Goto pressed the zoom-out button and glanced at Myoukou's fleet which is still approximately 40 kilometers away from Kaga's fleet.

"How long until Myoukou's fleet reaches Saipan?!"

"An hour!" Ooyodo answered.

Admiral Goto grunted. There are only three carriers assigned on the Northern Fleet. They need the Southern Fleet's carriers to even the odds…

"Myoukou, get in there in time…" Admiral Goto prayed. Prayed for the first time in many years.

"Admiral, Shoukaku's fleet has successfully reached Saipan Naval Base!" Ooyodo announced.

~o~

 **5th Main Battle Fleet: Naval Base Saipan**

 **Time: 2:15 A.M**

Shoukaku and her fleet detached from Kaga's fleet when they reach the five kilometer mark. Finally, sailing beside her, Niyodo is finally sailing on her own…staggering here and there.

"Maintain your center. Don't jerk side to side quickly if you feel that you are about to fall." Shoukaku grabbed Niyodo's arm, helping her straighten up her cowered body.

"Why is it so hard to sail straight~!" Niyodo complained as she twitchingly straightens herself.

"You'll get used to it if you practice." Shoukaku replied, "I'm letting go okay?"

Slowly Shoukaku lifted her hand that kept Niyodo balanced. With a nod Niyodo tried balancing herself on her own once again, this time finally scratching the surface on how to find your center of gravity.

"If only I am not top heavy~" Niyodo complained once more as she glanced on her chest.

"Oh please, you are lucky that you have modest assets….Mine however…" Ikoma lowered her head towards her chest and stared at it for a good minute. "Dammit" Is the only word she could utter.

Tosa let out a loud laugh as she jokingly slaps Ikoma's shoulder from the back.

"Come on now! If you do daily exercise and not succumb all day on your laptop you wouldn't have these pathetic assets!" She announced as she sailed around Ikoma.

"Shut-up, you fucking unfinished ship!" Ikoma finally got her patience sack popped.

"Hey that's rude you fucking granny!" Tosa retaliated.

"You started it." Owari who was sailing behind Tosa loudly announced.

"No one is asking you PAPER ship!" Ikoma and Tosa simultaneously yelled.

Bulges were forming on Owari's temple. With a steaming head she grabbed Tosa's side tail and Ikoma's ponytail and dragged them close to each other. With a strong grip, Owari, who was taller than Tosa and Ikoma, slams the unfinished battleship's forehead with the old battlecruiser's forehead.

"Geez, your fleet seems to be noisier than Kaga's fleet." Niyodo announced as she finally sailed straight whilst facing towards the banters behind her.

"Don't say that. You are making me wish Tosa to have a stoic demeanor like Kaga." Shoukaku complained, unable to differentiate battleship Tosa and aircraft carrier Kaga.

Both of them had the same hair color and face. They both had sidetails as hairstyles. They both had the same height, both had the same assets, they both had the same color scheme which is white and blue.

They differ on personality and clothing however. With Tosa having an annoying demeanor, always teasing the other members in the fleet and easily gets pissed off once being fucked-around. She's wearing a white sleeveless top and a blue shirt with a black skirt on her lower body. She also had black arm-gloves that could reach her elbow.

Kaga on the other hand had this stoic demeanor, always serious, and never been seen to be smiling. She wore a white archers top and a blue skirt. She had a black knee socks and a black muneate on her chest.

The two were like the Moon and the Sun. A visible contrast between light and dark. But harboring the same classifications, they are fucking annoying at times.

"Alright, settle down! We have reached Naval Base Saipan~" Shoukaku announced glancing at the abandoned docks and destroyed buildings.

"I can't see anybody…" Hatsuzuki muttered as she turns on her searchlight.

The dry dock was closed so Shoukaku ordered the fleet to halt and scan for survivors. Not a single source of light could be seen. They saw buildings riddled with holes and burn marks. Some even collapsed by their own weights.

"Dammit, Zuikaku where are you…." Shoukaku worriedly muttered as she took a Saiun squadron from her quiver and launches them.

"I think they are gone, Shoukaku." Ashigara softly said.

"Please don't say that. I know she's here somewhere. She has to be…" Shoukaku replied, her distress catching up to her.

"There is no point in waiting here. I suggest we go inland and then search. Maybe we'll find some clues on what happened here." Katsura, a Tachibana-class destroyer, announced prompting the others to nod in agreement.

Shoukaku also nodded and with that said she decided on which who will get inland.

"Kashima, Shiraume, Kamikaze, Owari and Akizuki. You guys will be on patrol in sea. You guys will be Detachment A. Take some breaks if you guys want. Those who are uncalled will be Detachment B, now let's get inland." Shoukaku issued her orders and sailed first towards the beach.

A total of eight shipgirls sailed towards the beach and unsummon their battle riggings.

The beach was packed full of black shards and ammunition castings, one would think that a fierce battle just happened some time ago.

Shoukaku's sailing boots touched the wet sand, slowly burrowing in as the time pass-by.

"I am not that heavy, am I?" Shoukaku peered down on her legs and muttered those words.

"You said something?" Ashigara walked pass her and asked with a curious look on her face.

Shoukaku hastily shook her head in denial. She then placed her right index finger at her right ear and spoke with a soft tone.

"Katsura-chan, take a couple of shipgirls with you and check the condition of the shipgirl repair docks on our east. Your group will be Detachment C."

"Roger…" Katsura replied with a cheery tone.

Their first destination was the small dormitory building closer to the beach. Lamps were placed along the pathways some of them were even tumbled down or destroyed.

"This looks ominous." Tosa unknowingly uttered as she crouched down and grabbed a destroyed lamp from the ground.

"Yeah, good assessment Sherlock." Ikoma who was behind Tosa retorted, walking pass Tosa she then stared at the small dormitory building that was packed full of small and large holes.

"Shoukaku, what's the hold up?"

Suddenly Shoukaku's receiver picked up Kashima's voice. She turn around and saw Kashima moving a bit closer to the beach with her binoculars placed on her eyes.

"Just checking the lamps placed outside the building." Shoukaku replied as she waved her hand towards Kashima.

"Power shortages?" Owari asked via the radio.

Shoukaku turned her attention right next to the electric post just adjacent to the destroyed entrance of the small dormitory building.

"Nah, it looks like the power generators were destroyed during the fight." Shoukaku replies, as she stared at the half-burned transformer limply hanging on the electric post.

"Hey~! You guys need to check this!" Ashigara poked her head out of the larger holes splattered on a cemented wall just parallel to Shoukaku and others.

Tosa was the first one to react as she immediately stood up from her crouched position and into a sprint towards the entrance. Ikoma on the other hand followed on a calmly manner.

"Catch you later, Kashima. Ashigara just picked up something." Shoukaku pressed the small transmitter placed on her ear.

"Alright, be careful in there. Ah, one more thing. We need to fix the repair docks soon, Yamashiro's fleet took a heavy beating and are now sailing limply towards the Naval Base. I suggest you to guys to do the fixing now while I bring the remaining shipgirls of the fleet towards Yamashiro's fleet and support them."

"Alright, I'll see what we can do from here."

Kashima's voice trailed and only a faint "Un" could be heard until there was only silence remaining. Slowly Shoukaku turned her attention towards the repair docks and realized that the whole building collapsed. There is no way she and the others could fix that.

"Yep, not even the slightest." Shoukaku uttered, finding a makeshift substitute on her head.

Shoukaku entered the building and came across a collapsed staircase. There is no way she could jump seven feet from the ground either so she decided to check where the others went.

As she examined the hallways of the ground floor, she came across a sharp object sticking out of the wall.

"What in a?"

Upon closer inspection, it was a sharp edge similar to V-shaped trident. Black fluids could be seen dripping at the tip and with a curious intent Shoukaku entered the room where she believed where the arrow came from.

As she opened the door, a corpse of a maintenance worker met her view. She almost let out a squeal as she saw the corpse's face. The skull cracked open, its contents sticking out and the flies that were flying around it... She had this urge to vomit but managed to keep it in.

With heavy breathing Shoukaku turned her attention to the wall on her left. It was another corpse but a corpse of a humanoid abyssal. A black feathered arrow could be seen penetrating its way through its skull, managing to keep the corpse on a standing position.

"An arrow…" Shoukaku muttered as she placed her gloved hand on the arrow's feather.

And just like that the humanoid abyssal immediately sprung into life grabbing Shoukaku's hand and pulling her closer to its mangling mouth.

"OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD!" Shoukaku screamed as the humanoid abyssal pulled her closer.

With her left hand Shoukaku placed it on the elbow of the abyssal's arm and pushes it upward breaking it in an instant. With the arms disabled, Shoukaku was able to free herself from the abyssal's clutches.

But it only angered the abyssal as it growled, screeched, croaked, and twitched sporadically out of control. With a forward motion the abyssal, managed to break free from the arrow that was pinning it in place.

"SSSSSQQEAAAKKK!"

The abyssal leapt forward pushing Shoukaku to the ground as it climbed on top of her, its mangled mouth trying to get a bite off her.

"UGHRR!"

Shoukaku kept the abyssal in bay as she placed both of her hands at the abyssal's throat. Black fluids as well as saliva were pouting out of the abyssal's mangled mouth.

"Shoukaku?!" Tosa's voice entered Shoukaku's ear.

"Here! Over here! Help me!"

A loud thumping noise echoed across the hallway before Tosa finally entered the room, on her hands is a StA 409.

"Wha?! What?!" Tosa saw the abyssal, confusion immediately overwhelmed her.

"Shoot it!" Shoukaku screamed with a high pitch tone.

Tosa fired a single bullet blasting the abyssal's head in pieces. Black fluids and mangled muscles simply dropped on Shoukaku's face.

"Oh fucking hell…" Tosa cursed as she grabbed the torn curtains on the window. "Here, wipe it off with this."

"You could've shot it at the back you now?!" Shoukaku furiously complained as she wiped off the black fluid off her face like a spilled black ink.

"I guess, Admiral Goto's phrase of: You are only good in sea. Once on the ground you're hopeless like a kid." Tosa said as she helped Shoukaku up on her feet.

Couple of hastily running footsteps were coming towards the room as well. The out of breath faces of Ashigara and Ikoma then came to their attention, clearly they need to do some cardio.

"We missed something?" Ashigara asked, panting her way towards Tosa before sitting on a wooden chair just behind Tosa.

"Shoukaku was assaulted by this thing. Luckily I found this laying around." Tosa answered proudly raising the StA 409 on her hand.

"Where did you pick that up exactly?" Shoukaku asked as she leaned her back against the wall.

"Second floor, I actually had to jump seven feet into the air just to reach there."

"No wonder the ceiling rumbled for a second." Ikoma retorted as she received a jab on the left cheek from Tosa's stone fist.

From the back Ashigara slowly crouched in front of the deceased maintenance worker that had its head spilled out. A hand placed on her nose, she then moved closer to take a look on the man's nameplate.

"Ikauda Tanaka." Ashigara said.

"Hmm? You said something Ashigara-san?" Ikoma who was massaging her beet red cheeks turned her attention towards the crouching Ashigara.

"The man's name is Tanaka…How unfortunate for him to die in a place like this…" Ashigara uttered in pity as she clasps her hands together and recited a resting prayer.

"He had it rough indeed." Tosa said as she headed towards the door.

Shoukaku leaned way from the wall that she was leaning on and followed behind the others who were already getting out of the room. She took one last glance at the corpse, reciting her own resting prayer before finally crouching down once again to pick up the black arrow that was pinned on the humanoid abyssal's head.

As she walked along the dark hallway that was only lightly illuminated by the moon's moonlight, she examined the black arrow. The first thing that she tried was putting both of her thumb fingers at the center of the arrow's body and apply a forward force bending it downward.

She exerted more force to the point that the tip of the arrowhead's edge was already touching the slits at the arrow's base. Shoukaku was impressed by the strength of the arrow's material. It was neither made of steel or wood, it was clearly made of something that's both flexible and durable enough that a shipgirl like her was unable to break in two.

Out of amazement Shoukaku summoned her battle riggings, immediately putting her on a stop due to her tonnage. With the quiver hanging on her back she holstered it inside and unsummons her battle riggings once more.

But the black arrow fell to the ground, seeming unaffected by the de-summoning technique.

"That's weird." Shoukaku muttered in bafflement.

All objects around the world that's been attached, wielded, riveted on a shipgirls battle rigging would be immediately recognized as a part of her battle attire. That effectively puts the attached object within the laws of the summoning technique that Admiral Goto shared on his shipgirls on how to suddenly unsummon their heavy battle riggings as well as nullifying their overall characteristic as a ship, effectively turning them into a normal girl.

Characteristics as a ship includes: Ship tonnage, Engine Horsepower, Displacement, Speed, Center of gravity, and Maneuverability.

Once those said characteristics are nullified only the Engine Horsepower which is equivalent to a shipgirl's overall strength, remains.

"I guess I'll be leaving this here…" Shoukaku's voice trailed as she stared at the arrow on her hand, "On second thought, you'll be coming with me."

~o~

 **1st Main Battle Fleet: 20 kilometers North of Saipan**

 **Time: 2:52 A.M**

Kaga turned around as she took a reconnaissance arrow from her quiver. It had a distinctive yellow feathers attached at the back end of the arrow.

"Any word from Shoukaku's fleet?" Kaga faintly asked towards Ibuki, nameship of the unbuilt Ibuki-class heavy cruisers.

"I just received a local transmission from her that they just arrived at the naval base." Ibuki paused as she realized Kaga's expression clearly confused, "You didn't receive it?" Ibuki's voice trailed.

Kaga shook her head gently as she placed her right index finger on her right ear.

"Ah, no wonder. My ear radio receiver is currently not present on my ear." Kaga announced stoically not a hint of concern could be seen on her face.

"Are you not concerned? You won't be able to relay orders efficiently you know?"

Kaga raised her right hand performing a horizontal air chop before making a sharp right turn. The other shipgirls behind her followed on her lead.

"I can still do hand gestures and Morse code…Unless you are blind or you don't an inbuilt receiver inside your head, that's your problem." Kaga said as she placed the reconnaissance arrow on the string of her bow before firing it on a speed of 200 kph.

The ear radio transmitter must've fallen off when they were performing naval maneuvers to defeat an abyssal fleet that they encountered a few moments ago.

Spread on a groups of three the Saiuns flew and spread like a fan. Kaga wondered where the supposedly Abyssal Task Force that appeared in their radar is. They've been on the last known location where the enemy task force was spotted but as it seems, they are not here. And any further than 25 kilometers away from Saipan and her fleet will run into some communication problems where Admiral Goto's orders won't be received and their reports unable to be transmitted.

With that in mind, Kaga put a boundary in which her fleet is allowed to venture. Always making sure that they won't touch the 25 kilometer mark.

"Say, where the hell is the enemy task force…" Maya's voice echoed on the intercoms after Ibuki gave Kaga her ear radio receiver. "Don't you guys think that we are actually sailing on the wrong direction?"

"I can hear you loud and clear, Maya." Kaga pressed her index and middle finger on her right ear.

"AH!" Maya's voice frantically yelped.

A couple of faint chucker here and there erupted, prompting Maya to urge everybody to shut-the-fuck-up but her efforts were fruitless.

"Goodness, conversations like this sure do make me feel happy." Haruna's voice gently interjected among the crowd of laughter.

"Oh dear, look what have you done Maya. You made Haruna-san fell sad~" Katsuragi interjected with a teasing tone.

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean, Katsuragi?!" Maya complained once more, "Geez, I hate you guys…"

"Oh come-on now, we are just teasing you~" Sendai sailed along Maya who was making a displeased pout.

Maya avoided eye contact and only let out "Hmph!" as she sailed along Sendai's smiling face. A few moments later they heard another 'Fmph' from the horizon indicating that Kaga has fired another batch of Saiuns.

"A total of eleven reconnaissance planes were launched." Agano softly muttered behind Kirishima.

"Abyssals" Kaga announced at the radio breaking radio silence in the process.

The fleet of shipgirls that were sailing in a bunched up formation dispersed immediately when they heard Kaga's announcement in the radio. Effectively forming a CF4 in a split second after the announcement was received.

"Asashio, split from the fleet and precede toward bearings 3-4-5 degrees and get close to the enemy fleet. Once you are five kilometers away from them fire a single volley of metal fishes ahead of the abyssal fleet's course. Once that's done, fire a special star shell into the sky. We'll close in for the kill."

Kaga didn't receive a reply but she could see Asashio taking six destroyers with her on a Line Ahead formation heading towards the abyssal fleet.

"What is it this time?" Katsuragi whispered from behind with a vocal tone.

"A combined fleet composing of five battleships, nine cruisers and four carriers, no destroyers were seen upon contact however." Kaga replied as she glanced at Katsuragi with a serious look. "We'll approach from the rear. That's way if the enemy fleet turns port we'll be there waiting for them to cross our line of fire…"

Kaga then pressed on the small radio transmitter on her ear and relayed further orders.

"Remaining shipgirls form up, Line Ahead. Battlecruisers on point, light cruisers second, heavy cruisers last."

Haruna was the first one to increase her speed as she took the vanguard position together with her sister Kirishima. Next on the line was light cruisers Sendai and Agano followed by heavy cruisers Maya and Ibuki. Katsuragi and Kaga positioned themselves at the rear.

With her on point, Haruna made a sharp right turn as the enemy combined fleet pass by them around 20 kilometers away. She then lowered her speed and before long they were now pursuing the enemy combine fleet from the rear.

Asashio and her fleet of destroyers arrived at their five kilometer mark. Out of sheer luck and they managed to get themselves this close to the enemy without being spotted.

She then turned right sailing in parallel with the enemy combined fleet. After that she raised three of her right hand's fingers gesturing the others to fire three torpedoes only. The other destroyers in her fleet nodded in unison.

Now, she pulled the special star shell from her waist and waited for the perfect timing…

She focused her attention at the Wo-class abyssal carrier who was looking at her general direction. The Wo-class seems to be only looking at her, it didn't blinked nor avoided eye contact. And for sure the Wo-class appeared to be not startled by the fact that six destroyers are currently sailing in parallel with her fleet with a distance of five kilometers.

Asashio counted, five was her first number.

As the numbers in her head decreased the elevation of her torpedo turrets decreased. The waves were pushing themselves on Asashio's sailing boots.

"One" Asashio faintly uttered as three torpedoes were launched from her torpedo turret.

The other destroyers as well fired their own salvo when they saw Asashio fired her own. Now what's left was to fire the special star shell.

With her dominant hand Asashio raised the flare gun to the air. As soon as she was about to pull the trigger she heard a whistling noise raising towards her followed by a strong impact sound a few seconds later.

Asashio heard a sticky noise erupting from above. She raised her head towards the source of this noise and discovered that her right hand was already nowhere to be seen.

It was severed right at the wrist. A pool of red blood traced along her right arm as she tried her best not to let out a loud shriek of pain, and she did, a few seconds later the torpedo salvo finally reached their target.

"Kaga, I'm hit." Asashio announced on the intercoms as she used her left hand to press the radio transmitter on her ear. "I lost my right hand with it the special star shell…"

"Don't worry, get yourselves out of the line of sight of the abyssal fleet. I'll fire a regular star shell from here." Kaga replied with a bit of static noise mixed in between her sentence.

With heavy breathing Asashio pulled a small rectangular pressure pad that was wrapped with thin plastic. Using her left hand she placed the sealed pressure pad in between her teeth and tore the seal open.

"Slow down let me help you." Arashio sailed beside her and took the pressure pad form Asashio's hand.

Arashio her fourth sister then hastily wrapped the pressure pad around Asashio's bleeding hand. Blood were staining her small and slender hands and some of it was already sticking on her long white sleeves.

"Done" Arashio announced as she took her sister's ear radio transmitter from Asashio's right ear and displaced it on her left ear so that she wouldn't have any trouble relaying information to the other shipgirls.

"Can you still shoot with your left hand?" Arashio asked as she gave her older sister a twin mount 12.7 cm gun turret

"I can. Dammit I should've killed that Wo earlier than expected." Asashio cursed as she tried aiming with her left hand.

"Too late to be cursing now, let's rendezvous with the main fleet." Arashio declared.

With a sharp left turn, Asashio's fleet of destroyers chased after the already battered abyssal combined fleet that was currently engaged with Kaga's fleet.

"Elevation 20 degrees…fire!"

A column of red tracers traced along the night sky. A few seconds later these red tracers landed on the water generating water pillars that were ten feet high. The strong currents also pose a problem to the lightly tonnage shipgirls like Sendai and Agano because it hinders stable aiming but for the battlecruisers like Haruna, and Kirishima no matter how high the pillar gets or how strong the current gets their aim is on point.

"Direct hit" Haruna announced as she saw a Ru-type battleship's head flew five feet into the air leaving behind a headless husk of meat.

"That's the last battleship to be worrying about. Now, for the small fries." Kirishima adjusts her glasses as she prepared for another salvo.

"Prepare secondary armament bombardment. Agano, Sendai, I want two salvos of torpedoes aimed directly at that group of heavy cruisers. Don't let them approach us head-on!"

Kaga's voice erupted on the intercoms. Sendai quickly took two 61(cm) Oxygen filled torpedoes; nicknamed Long Lance Torpedoes; from her malfunctioning torpedo turrets and manually aimed them ahead of the heavy cruiser group.

Agano has already sent her own torpedo salvo towards the turning heavy cruiser group scoring a single hit and the rest missed their mark.

"That flagship…" Sendai muttered as she flipped the torpedo on her right hand and threw it on a flat trajectory like a kunai.

The angled tip of the long lance torpedo landed on the Tsu-class flagship type heavy cruiser's right shoulder. A strong blast engulfed the abyssal, and by the time the smoke faded the flagship type's legs were the only ones that remain.

"The flagship is dead." Sendai announced.

"Good." Kaga faintly muttered as she zeroed at the two Wo-class abyssal carriers retreating from the battle zone. "Without the head the body is just useless."

Kaga released the stressed high frequency string, launching the combat arrows that Akashi made before the operation. These arrows were not designed to manifest into planes like most arrows do. These jet black arrows that had a red tip are designed to penetrate thick abyssal armor.

Making carrier-type shipgirls capable of engaging enemy abyssals from long range if she ran out of arrow planes as well as being able to participate during night battle engagements where launching planes is unfavorable unless they are reconnaissance planes.

Kaga's arrow entered supersonic speed as it flew on a flat line. It only took a few seconds for the arrow to close the 12 kilometer gap between Kaga and the retreating abyssals.

[RET-!]

Before the abyssal could say something else the arrow penetrated the back of her head and the tip emerging out of her forehead. The Wo-class's eyes rolled back as its body slowly fell into the water.

Three seconds later another arrow flew and landed on another Wo-class' neck immediately killing it. In a span of four seconds the last two Wo-class abyssal carriers that successfully escaped Kaga's fleet sank in a distance of 12 kilometers. Both were killed by a carrier-type shipgirl that isn't specialized in night battle engagements.

A smile slowly emerged out of Kaga's face as she stood her ground. Taking advantage of the situation a Tsu-class light cruiser swooped-in.

A terrible mistake—

Kaga quickly lowered her head from the Tsu-class' gun barrels, missing their intended targets.

Still in a leaning forward motion, Kaga then made a counterclockwise motion simultaneously using her right hand to pull a single combat arrow from her quiver and slams the red tip at the Tsu-class's forehead.

The Tsu-class' body immediately became untangled like a puppet that has lost its puppeteer's control.

After seeing that the Tsu-class is already deceased Kaga forcibly pulled the combat arrow out of the Tsu-class's head.

"Kaga did it work? Did the arrows work?!" Katsuragi slowly grind into a halt behind Kaga.

"Two carriers sunk and a light cruiser six seconds later. I'd say Akashi did her homework." Kaga made a quick counterclockwise rotation, swiftly placing the arrow at the right side of the bow and immediately firing it on a half-stressed string.

The arrow passed Katsuragi's head killing the destroyer that suddenly jumped out of the water behind her.

"I could get used to this…" Kaga let out a murderous smile as at Katsuragi.

~o~

 **5th Main Battle Fleet Detachment A**

 **Time: 3:20 A.M**

She only had one job and that is to check whether the shipgirl repair docks are still functional or not. She had four shipgirls with her, one newbie light cruiser, a destroyer and lastly an early model battlecruiser.

They are currently inside the storage room of the shipgirl repair docks trying their best to close the door that's been forcibly open by humanoid abyssals.

"If it weren't only for your blatant stupidity this wouldn't have happened!" Tsukaba shouted at the top of her lungs at Niyodo who was helping her block the door.

"I told you I didn't mean it!" Niyodo yelled back as she pulled away from the door and kicked the abyssal arm that's preventing them from properly closing the door.

The two destroyers on the other hand were taking cover behind the concrete walls of the storage room.

Hatsuzuki and Katsura are currently standing on top of the catwalk with the two of them had their battle riggings summoned to prevent the armed abyssals from reinforcing the other abyssals that were breaching the door that Niyodo and Tsukaba are blocking.

"Katsura, I've ran out of 100mm ammo!" Hatsuzuki yelled as she unsummons her battle riggings.

Katsura continued to fire with her right turret. 100mm castings were dropping on the metal catwalk letting out a sharp ding as Katsura fired her already glowing 100mm barrels.

At some point one of the said barrels was already too hot that it broke in two prevent her to fire.

"Hatsuzuki, replacement barrel now!" Katsura ducked into cover reaching her hand towards her fellow destroyer.

"I've ran out!" Hatsuzuki shouted back.

Katsura cursed as she unsummons her battle rigging unable to find a replacement for her overheated gun barrels.

"Get down!" Hatsuzuki suddenly jumped forward pushing Katsura to the floor of the metal catwalk.

Katsura was startled by Hatsuzuki's sudden tackle. With her back pressing against the floor of the metal catwalk, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Hatsuzuki staring back at her.

Blood dripping out of her forehead and her eyes devoid of life—

"Hatsuzuki!" Katsura shouted in fear.

"What's going on up there?!" Tsukaba shouted as she heard Katsura's strong cry.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Duck! Fucking dammit!" Katsura frantically sat on an upright position and placed Hatsuzuki's body on her lap.

"Katsura calm down! Dammit…Niyodo go up there and check what the hell is going on. I'll hold them here on my own!" Tsukaba clicked her tongue as she lowered her head towards the ground.

Baffled, Niyodo shook her head twice refusing to get away from the door.

"No! This is my fault! I'm staying here to help you block this door!" Niyodo yelled.

"Can't you see that you are just making things worse?! Go upstairs already and help Katsura! I am a battlecruiser; despite my small figure I am still stronger than you in a way!" Tsukaba yelled back.

Tsukaba didn't mean to say it that way. The words that she wanted to say were nowhere near on what was written inside her head but it was already too late she has already told Niyodo that she is just a liability…

Niyodo gritted her teeth as she digests the words that were thrown to her. She averted her gaze away from Tsukaba and squeezed her fists as hard as a rock.

"Fine" Were the only words that she was able to utter.

Tsukaba opened her mouth once more. She wanted to say something but the words didn't come out. As Niyodo's figure disappeared from her view, Tsukaba could only curse as she applied more force at the door.

Niyodo arrived at the second floor catwalk and saw Katsura's cowered body. A couple of buzzing sounds were passing over her head so she ducked down and approached Katsura and Hatsuzuki's position in a crouched position.

"Katsura-san!" Niyodo called as she arrived at their position.

Katsura didn't answer so Niyodo placed her dominant hand at Katsura's shoulder and attempted to shake her, only to discover that Katsura herself was gone too.

Bullet holes littered her upper body as she seemingly tried to protect Hatsuzuki's corpse. Niyodo glanced at the concrete walls on her left and discovered penetration holes on them.

"Dammit!" Niyodo cursed as she crawled away from the wall and crawled back towards the ladder in which she used to climb the catwalk.

"Tsukaba! Tsukaba! Katsura-san and Hatsuzuki-san are de—"

Niyodo ran towards the first floor alerting Tsukaba about the situation upstairs. By the time she arrived there however Tsukaba was already leaning against the door, her battle riggings summoned and her attention seemingly attached on the concrete wall adjacent to her.

The hairs on Niyodo's body simultaneously stood up like an electrocuted person. What she saw was a pool of blood surrounding Tsukaba's leaning figure, her hands were pressed against her stomach where her blood was pouring out like an opened sink. It was dripping on the floor in mini droplets, as Niyodo attempted to approach her body she suddenly had this strong urge to vomit.

Niyodo pressed her dominant hand on her mouth and her left hand against her stomach.

She didn't have time to catch her breath however as a humanoid hand penetrated the door and pushed Tsukaba's corpse forward.

Tsukaba's body fell on the floor like it was made of thick metal. The floor shook as soon as her body touched the ground. Dust particles were thrown out into the air, blocking her field of view.

Niyodo had her legs move backward unconsciously. She heard footsteps, wet footsteps. She heard a very prominent growl like a lion that has found its prey. And by the time the dust particles settled, humanoid abyssals were standing at the breached door their focus pinned at Niyodo's figure.

"No…"

She could only let out a single word.

"No!" A word that quickly turn into a scream—

~o~

 **5th Main Battle Fleet Detachment C**

 **Time: 3:30 A.M**

"Bang~" Ashigara gesturely announced as she fired her 20.3cm gun barrels at the pack of humanoid abyssals that were packed on a breached door.

"Are trying to kill the others too?!" Ikoma threw Ashigara's aim away from the shipgirl repair docks storage room but she was too late to stop a single shell from landing at the breached door.

"What are you proposing me to do perhaps?!" Ashigara retaliated as she unsummons her battle riggings and ran towards the large crater that she made with her 20.3cm cannons.

Following behind her is Shoukaku who had her bow and quiver summoned. She then stopped and pulled the jet black arrow from her quiver and placed it on a ready position. With a loud sigh she pulled the string and aimed at the armed humanoid abyssal that was pointing its gun at Ashigara.

A whistling sound soon followed, the arrow finding its mark at the abyssal's head.

"Shoukaku use this!" Tosa ran beside Shoukaku and threw a StA 409 at her general direction.

Shoukaku released her bow to the side, slowly the wooden bow evaporated into thin air. She then grabbed the StA 409 that was thrown towards her and ran after Ikoma who was already supporting Ashigara.

Ashigara arrived at the destroyed storage room entrance and tackled a humanoid abyssal that was about to tackled Niyodo.

She then summoned her battle rigging pinning the abyssal to the ground. After that she applied her whole tonnage at the abyssal's stomach whilst at the same time performing a strong headbutt shattering the abyssals head like a watermelon.

"Ha…Ha…Ha…." Ashigara let out a couple of deep breaths as she stood up from the ground and wiped the black blood that was stained on her forehead and cheeks.

"A-A-Ashigara-san?!" Niyodo called as she stood up from the ground and ran towards Ashigara and gave her a strong embrace.

Following from behind Ikoma and Shoukaku arrived a second later pointing the barrels of their rifles around inside the room. Ikoma then lowered her rifle towards the ground and saw Tsukaba's body on the floor.

"Ah, dammit Tsukaba" Ikoma crouched down placing her index and middle finger at Tsukaba's neck. "Dammit, she's dead."

Shoukaku lowered her head towards Tsukaba's body and crouched down staring at Tsukaba's cold and empty eyes.

"Niyodo, tell me that the others are alright…" Shoukaku softly uttered.

Hesitant, Niyodo separated herself from Ashigara's embrace and faced Shoukaku and tried answering her question.

"Katsura….um….Hatsuzuki…um…"

"How bad?" Shoukaku pressed for an answer.

"Shoukaku…" Ashigara softly uttered as she took a glance at the stairs leading to the second floor. "I'll look for the others. Go check if the shipgirl repair docks is still functional or not."

With a loud tapping sound Ashigara slowly jogged upstairs leaving behind Ikoma and the others at the ground floor.

"Nevermind, Ikoma help me carry Tsukaba's body. Niyodo, find us a working shipgirl repair dock." Shoukaku softly ordered, her attention still pinned on Tsukaba's body.

Niyodo fumbled with her hands as she walked pass Shoukaku's crouched body. She took a single glanced at Tsukaba's body once more before turning her attention at Ikoma who only gave her a single nod.

Unable to do anything Niyodo nodded back before heading towards a working shipgirl repair dock that she accidentally found a while ago.

"She only did what she could. There is no need for you to passively bash her." Ikoma softly said as she watched Niyodo's figure fade away from her field of view.

"That is why I didn't burst out at her. Now, help me carry her body." Shoukaku urged as she placed the StA 409 on the ground and grabbed Tsukaba's arms.

Ikoma scratched the back of her head and placed herself in between Ikoma's legs. She then swung the rifle around her body and grabbed Tsukaba's legs upward while Shoukaku carried the upper body.

When Ashigara arrived at the second floor the first thing that caught her attention was the pile of 100mm round-type shell castings on the floor. She then raised her head and saw the metal catwalk.

With the metal ladder on her right she climbed on it until she was standing on the catwalk itself. She walked near the windows in front of her and saw Katsura and Hatsuzuki's body piled on top of another.

Ashigara crouched down and checked their bodies. Hatsuzuki had a gun wound at the forehead and neck, a couple of holes could be seen on her right shoulder as well as her left arm. Katsura on the other hand was shot at the right side of her head with a couple of holes on her stomach and neck.

"Dammit" Ashigara swore as she swung the StA 409's strap around her body and slowly separated Hatsuzuki's body from Katsura. She then took Katsura's body and placed her on her left shoulder while she hand carried Hatsuzuki's body.

When she arrived at the edge of the catwalk she remembered that she climbed on a ladder to reach the catwalk. With a loud sigh, Ashigara only gritted her teeth and jumped down.

"It ain't that high up." Ashigara said to herself as the soles of her feet reached the floor.

And when she landed on the floor she groaned in pain.

Niyodo found the working shipgirl repair dock that she accidentally found. She saw Shoukaku and Ikoma's figure coming out of storage room, she gave them a wave of her hand gesturing them the location of the repair dock.

After doing that Niyodo took the liberty to approach the bucket closets and took a single Akashi made repair formula stuff inside o a bucket. It had a luminous green hue; Niyodo remembered the procedures on how to perform an emergency repair using the shipgirl repair dock.

First is to fill the repair dock, that's 12 feet in length and 2 feet wide, with water. After that, turn on the heater that's below the repair dock so that the water that's inside the repair dock would be warmed up. Lastly, apply the repair formula on the warmed up water.

The repair formula should repair any damages that a shipgirl sustained during intense battle, overtime. The fluid is not permanent however, it only last for about a day before the effectiveness of its repair fades.

With that in mind Niyodo waited for Shoukaku and Ikoma to arrive with Tsukaba's body before applying the repair formula on the water.

"Should I apply it now?" Niyodo asked as Shoukaku and Ikoma placed Tsubaka's body inside the shipgirl repair dock.

"Yes" Ikoma softly said.

Niyodo slowly poured the green luminous fluid into the shipgirl repair dock. The clear, warm water then mixed with the green hued fluid.

The color of Tsukaba's body immediately turned normal. The wounds on her body slowly healing and before long, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Wha-what?" Tsukaba blinked twice as she stared at the roofless building.

Ikoma let out a sigh of relief as she threw her attention towards Ashigara's approaching figure. She then slowly started moving towards her with a light jog and helped Ashigara carry the bodies of her fellow deceased shipgirl.

"Are you fine? You don't feel nauseated?" Shoukaku crouched down and asked Tsukaba with a worried look on her face.

Tsukaba shook her head twice before checking very nook and cranny of her own body. After that she placed her left hand on her stomach where a supposed to be gun wound should be visible there.

"God" Tsukaba muttered. "Akashi's repair formula sure does…work like magic." She continued as she threw her gaze towards Niyodo who was standing a bit further away from her.

Niyodo had her gaze pinned on the concrete floor. She hand her dominant had grasping her other arm. And whenever she would turn her eye towards Tsukaba she would immediately look away.

"Niyodo…" Tsukaba softly called, "I am sorry…you did nothing wrong…" She continued as she slowly moved out of the shipgirl repair dock with a shaking body.

"Don't force yourself, Tsukaba." Shoukaku stood up from her crouched position and helped Tsukaba got out of the repair dock.

"No…She did nothing wrong. She only followed Katsura-chan's orders on finding a working SRD. The abyssals that soon followed were attracted by our voices when the SRD suddenly sprung into life…" Tsukaba placed her right hand on her forehead feeling a bit light headed as she leaned her body on Shoukaku's arms.

"I am terribly sorry for being such a liability…"Niyodo bit the lower part of her lip and said those words with shame. "If only…if only I—"

"Niyodo…" Shoukaku called her name prompting Niyodo to look on her general direction, "I am not mad because three shipgirls belonging on our fleet died temporarily. In fact…to me it is better that they died on land rather than dying on a bottomless abyss. That why I am assured that they will come back to life using Akashi's repair formula."

"Shoukaku stop talking like that, you are making yourself look like an 'asshole flagship' that is contempt at sinking a shipgirl just to finish the mission." Ikoma spoke from the back as she placed Katsura's body on the SRD first.

"We all knew that you suck at contemplating with someone so don't even try." Ashigara spoke with so much straight to the point words that it prompted Shoukaku on letting out a 'Uuuuu' in embarrassment.

"Look" Ikoma loudly spoke, "No one is blaming you because they died, Niyodo. You guys were ambushed and this happened because you were overwhelmed. Consider yourself lucky that you didn't have to experience death like these three here."

"You too Ikoma, you should shut-up as well because you are making the issue even darker. I mean are you stating that because of our incompetence that we died this way?" Tsukaba cussed back.

Ikoma let out a snort as she stood up from her crouched position and crossed her arms over her 'prominent' assets.

"Well if you put it that way. Shoukaku sank twice and was recovered twice…"

"Hey don't put it that way. You are making me look like an idiot at dodging bombs." Shoukaku interjected a dark aura seemingly emitting around her.

"Tosa and Ashigara-san gets constantly heavily damaged every sortie—"

"Hey?!" Both aforementioned shipgirls simultaneously complained.

"Hatsuzuki and Katsura always get a severed limb once and a while—"

"Hey I can hear you!" Katsura who was on the repair dock complained. The wounds that she received a while ago seemingly healed closed.

"Kashima, Owari and the other destroyers always get scolded by Zuikaku-san who was the former flagship of this fleet."

From the distance Ikoma could hear Kashima's loud "I can hear you from here!" complain prompting her to scratch the back of her head.

"Look the point is. Getting yourself killed and losing a limb here and there is just the norm in this fleet. That is why we are called the unfortunate shipgirls of 5th Fleet after all." Ikoma scuffed to the side trying to act cool in front of the others who clearly see her showing off at the startled newbie.

"Well except for Zuikaku-san…she's the only lucky shipgirl in this fleet." Tosa softly mutter as she placed her right index finger on her left brow.

"Zuikaku-san huh….Huh? Now that you mentioned it, where is Zuikaku-san? Didn't you just mention that she was the former flagship in this fleet? Did she retire or something?" Niyodo curiously asked.

Shoukaku inertly looked away from Niyodo's face and slowly walked away. Niyodo was confused, she was clearly confused seeing Shoukaku acting this way.

"Well that was a dick move…Say, Niyodo when were you summoned by Admiral Goto?" Tosa asked as she looked away from Shoukaku's back.

"I was summoned around…..January 9, why you'd ask?"

"No wonder you didn't know. Ashigara would you like to elaborate for our curious shipgirl here?" Ikoma shrugs as she helped Katsura out of the repair dock and placed Hatsuzuki on the repair dock saying, "I'm sorry but the instant repair formula has already faded. You just gotta have to heal slowly while we look for more okay?" at Hatsuzuki's lifeless body.

"Well if we remove the smaller details and stick on to the larger picture—"

"Zuikaku sank three point five days prior of this operation. Well, technically I also sank as well but I was recovered by I-3 and tugged at Okinawa for urgent repairs. Zuikaku too was recovered and was tugged here for repairs but as you can see—" Tsukaba spoke.

"Saipan is now in abyssal territory. Supplies were cut off and communications were severed. Basically, a blockade so to speak and we are here to take back what was taken from us…" Ashigara spoke with a cold tone and her left hand squeezed in front of her.

"And along the way…locate the still missing flagship of the 5th Fleet." Tosa continued, "But, judging by the situation now locating her sister in this massive island would probably take us a couple of days…" As she put her attention at Shoukaku's back.

Shoukaku found herself standing on the brown shores once more. The red paint of her boots burrowed on the sand as the salt water passes around her boots sinking them in the process.

"Are you just gonna stare at the sand whole morning?"

She heard a young girl's voice. Shoukaku turns around and saw Katsura standing behind her. Large sweat buds crowded Katsura's forehead and temple she also appeared to be out of breath as well.

"What?" Shoukaku spoke.

"I'm asking if you are just gonna stare at your boots whole morning or are we going to manually fix the other SRD's so that the other shipgirls could get some emergency repairs?" Katsura angrily elaborated.

"Well obviously the latter is the best option." Shoukaku answered almost immediately.

"Then stop lollygagging and help the others repair the broken ones." Katsura angirily said.

Shoukaku turned her head away and let out a snort as she walked passed Katsura.

"The dead shipgirl a while ago is currently ordering me… what a sudden turn of events." Shoukaku softly checkered.

"Stop passively bashing me already and get moving!" Katsura complained, steam of fury evaporating at the top of her purple hair.

~o~

 **Center Fleet: 10 Kilometers away from Naval Base Saipan**

 **Time: 3:40 A.M**

It took them a solid hour just to get away from the pursuing Abyssal fleet that suddenly ambushed them before the operation was officially declared as begin.

Not long after they entered abyssal territory Sakaki, a Tachibana-class destroyer, spotted a small fleet of heavy cruisers sailing towards them. Yamashiro ordered the fleet to attack the enemy fleet head-on.

The results were standard. Four abyssal heavy cruisers sank and no damage received on Yamashiro's fleet.

What she didn't knew however is that the abyssal fleet that attacked them was just a probe. The real threat was waiting underneath them, a combined fleet of submarines and a surface fleet.

By the time Taiyo's sonar lit up a total of 120 torpedoes were already sailing parallel towards them.

Every single shipgirl in Yamashiro's fleet was hit, none were excluded. It was fortunate enough that no one blew up in a single hit.

"Taiyo-chan, hold on for a bit longer. I can already see Saipan from here."

"She's dead Nee-san...Unyo, anything on the makeshift radio?" Yamashiro shouted as loud as she could since she can't use the new radio that she received from Akashi because it was destroyed during the recent naval battle.

Unyo who was sailing right next to Matsu; nameship of the Matsu-class destroyer; shook her head in denial.

"Dammit. I just hope that Shoukaku's fleet has arr—"

"Unknown fleet on our three 'o clock, distance ten kilometers away!" Furutaka announced as one of her skilled lookouts spotted an unknown fleet.

"Just my luck…Fleet prepare for another unfortunate naval battle!" Yamashiro announced raising her small flight deck into the air. "655th Zuin Group launch!"

Just before Yamashiro could pull the launching mechanism on her small flight deck Nire; a Tachibana-class destroyer; interjected with a loud "Wait!"

"I see 100mm Gun Turrets! It's my sister Shiraume! Look it's her!" Nire shouted in joy as she saw her sister's small patrol fleet.

"Just my luck…" Fuso faintly muttered as she gave Taiyo's cold face a warm smile.

With a soft sigh Yamashiro lowered her portable flight deck and placed her dominant hand on her left ear sending a Morse code at Nire's patrol fleet.

"Furutaka lit up your spotlight towards them." Yamashiro ordered.

"Roger" Furutaka replied as she closed her left eye. Seconds later she opened them once more letting out a strong beam of light towards Nire's patrol fleet.

Nire was of course startled when a beam of light suddenly lit them up. She thought that an abyssal fleet has ambushed them from a close proximity but she then received a message in Morse code telling her that Furutaka is letting them know that she has spotted her fleet. She let out a sigh of relief after knowing that.

The beam of light soon faded and darkness slowly followed. Nire placed her left hand on her left ear and let out a Morse code towards Yamashiro's fleet.

"Looks like Shoukaku's fleet have already garrisoned themselves at Saipan. Yosh, let's speed up and head to the Naval Base for repairs…" Yamashiro loudly announced, turning her attention towards the rising sun on the horizon.

"Its morning already, Yamashiro. What a lively night we just got into." She heard Fuso's voice prompting her to look back.

"Nee-sama…but it was already morning when we entered abyssal territory." Yamashiro said.

"Yes, but there was no sun present right? So it was a night battle…" Fuso said in return.

Yamashiro didn't want to make an argument to her lovely sister so she decided to just shut up, she thought 'this wouldn't backfire right?' to herself.

Slowly she raised her head to the starry sky. For a moment the sun rising on the horizon caught her attention but now, the sun was nowhere to be seen. It was as if it suddenly disappeared.

Ominous grayish clouds were painted on the sky. A single drop of raindrop fell on her soft nose. Yamashiro suddenly flinched when she felt the cold water touching her nose. When that happened, a single name popped up on her mind as she raised her head towards the sky once more.

"Ah, a Shigure"

Bloody hell you prayed for another drizzling rain haven't you?!

* * *

 **[] Shigure "時雨" is a name of "drizzling rain in autumn" in Japanese. The first 6 out of 10 Shiratsuyu-class ships have rain-related names.**

 **[] Matsu and Tachibana Class destroyers were refereed as Type D destroyers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Matsu-class are summoned with 127 mm (5in) L/40 Type 89 AA guns while the Tachibana-class destroyers were armed with 127 mm (5.0 in) L/40 AA gun. But due to some unfortunate circumstances they were sortied with 100 mm / 65 cal Type 98DP guns that the Akizuki class are issued with in default configuration.**


	33. Moment

The **moment** she heard her name **—**

* * *

Nobody was expecting something like this to happen. Clearly not even the weatherman knew that today would rain of all days.

"Shigure!"

It was not the weatherman's fault clearly.

"Where is she?!"

Because a certain shipgirl knew that a certain shipgirl purposely prayed to the rain god that today is probably a good time to rain heavily.

"Where the fuck is she?!" Yamashiro grabbed Katsuragi's collar and raised her into the air.

"Ah…ehh…" Were the only words Katsuragi could utter at the furious Aviation Battleship who just recently got out of the roofless shipgirl repair docks.

"You better tell me or else—"

"Or else what, Yamashiro-san?" A faint authoritative voice interjected.

Yamashiro instinctively turned her attention towards the source of this voice, letting out a malicious smile as she saw the owner of the said voice.

This particular shipgirl had a black sailor's uniform that had red lines along the trims of her uniform. She also had a black hair and blue eyes, porcelain skin, and a very peculiar hair style

"Ah, Shigure-chan~" Yamashiro called the particular shipgirl's name with an intimidating prolonged tone. She then released Katsuragi into the ground and started approaching Shigure in a very haunting manner.

The moment she heard her name, Shigures' authoritative aura immediately vanished like a puff of smoke. Unknowingly her legs started to move back, clearly sensing that she shouldn't have revealed herself.

"This is a mistake." Shigure let out a faint sentence.

"Shigure-chan~"

Yamashiro closed in and grabbed the puny destroyer by the shoulder, pinning her on the ground. Making any hasty escape impossible to perform.

"I…um….I—" Shigure tried to reason out with Yamashiro but the words won't come out of her mouth as she stared at Yamashiro's _clearly_ murderous expression.

"Haven't we had an agreement that you shouldn't make any blatant—mindless—unthoughtful—wish that might be granted by the a certain god? Didn't I personally beg you not to mindlessly open your mouth about rain?"

Shigure gulped one last time. Picking the right words for this conversation that's been initiated by the devil herself.

"Help?" Were the words Shigure managed to slip out of her mouth?!

"Nope" Yamashiro answered as she grabbed Shigure by the arm and placed her on her waist.

She then turns to her side where a light cruiser that goes with a name of Sendai was standing, her expression clearly showing concern at the said destroyer.

"Is there a room around here where I can talk personally with this walking saint?" Yamashiro asked with an innocent tone.

"Unhand me, Yamashiro-san! I beg of you please unhand me! I will not do it again so please unhand me!" Shigure who was unfortunately locked on Yamashiro's waist struggled to break free whilst shouting those words hysterically.

Sendai lowered her eyes towards the crying destroyer and thought to herself…. I'm not going to be bombarded with misfortune if I don't help her right?

"Oh, if you are wondering whether misfortune is going to be raining on you, consider helping so that it wouldn't happen." Yamashiro spoke with a very bright smile.

Sendai's body hair immediately rose up like a spring. She forgot that she is currently facing the most misfortunate shipgirl in the Combined Fleet. Not helping her would just invite misfortune down her way!

"I am sorry, Shigure-chan." Sendai uttered as she pointed her index finger at the Shipgirl Repair Dock Storage Room. "I will buy you ice cream once this is over."

"NO! You can't do this Sendai-san!" Shigure screamed once more as Yamashiro slowly walked upstairs leading to the second floor of the SRD storage room.

As soon as Yamashiro and Shigure's figure disappeared, the heavy atmosphere that was floating around the tensed group of shipgirls that were taking shelter from the heavy rain let out a series of loud, soft, long, and short sighs of relief.

"Phew, good thing none of us were included in that mess….besides Sendai." Agano let out a blatant sentence as she made a hand-fan gesture with her left hand.

Sendai fell on ground her hands shaking and her eyes cold as the cemented floor below her.

"Ah, look now she's entering her own world now!" Maya loudly spoke as she stood out of the makeshift shelter that she used to hide from the rain. "Get up already. The misfortune bearing shipgirl has already walked away."

A few seconds later the rain stopped as if the water faucet was closed. Maya raised her wet head to the sky clearly shock at the sudden turn of events.

"Well what do you know?" Fuso also came out of her own makeshift shelter that she was using, she then raised her head into the sky with her right hand turned upside down to cover her eyes from the sunlight.

"Uuuuu~"

The 57 shipgirls that were taking cover from the rain turned their attention towards Yamashiro who was holding Shigure on her waist but this time Shigure has covering her beet red face with her small and slender hands.

"WHAT IN A WORLD DID YOU DO?!" All 57 of them simultaneously asked with varying tones and expressions of disbelief and plain shock.

"Nothing serious really, right Shigure-chan?" Yamashiro replied with a smile on her face as she turned her gaze towards the blushing destroyer.

"Uuuuu, for Yamashiro-san to be doing that to me…I can't believe it…"

"WHAT IN A WORLD DID YOU DO?!" All 57 of them simultaneously asked once more.

"Calm down~" Yamashiro said as sweat buds started to form on her temple as she tried reasoning out with the more matured shipgirls among the group.

~o~

"Admiral all 57 shipgirls have arrived at the naval base and have consolidated." Ooyodo softly announced as she placed the headset on the table in front of her.

Admiral Arimato Goto stared at the 3D map once more. He still couldn't believe it. They did it, they really did it.

No matter how many times has he said that to himself, he still couldn't suppress his joy with just a simple smile, he held it in for about two minutes but the joy inside of him haven't subsided yet.

"Yosha!" And he failed to keep it in.

Ooyodo was taken aback with her husband's sudden scream. She blinked her eyes twice unable to comprehend what he was doing.

"Admiral?" Ooyodo called.

"Ehem." Admiral Goto cleared his throat as he heard Ooyodo's worried voice. He then straightens his posture before making another loud "Ehem". He then grabbed the notepad placed near the 3D map and checked at the names listed on it.

"Are we going to proceed as plan?" Ooyodo asked.

"Yes, once the 3rd and 12th Fleet finished their preparations, I want them to sail to Saipan immediately. I also want our 30 transport girls to sortie together with Kuma and Hiryuu's fleet." Admiral Goto loudly announced as he sat back into his chair just behind the 3D map.

Ooyodo then walked towards him, a wooden tray on her hand and two mugs filled with coffee. She placed the wooden tray on a small cabinet near the 3D map and gave the first mug to her husband.

"Here, it'll warm you up a bit." Ooyodo softly said as she gave the mug to Arimato.

Arimato smiled as he saw his wife's worried, tired, and warm expression. With his dominant hand he took the mug from his wife's hand and blew at the lid of the steaming mug.

"I did not expect that operation to run smoothly." Arimato chuckled as he savored the taste of his warm black coffee.

"Well the early phase of the operation was a bit sour. I did not expect Yamashiro's fleet to be ambushed by a submarine combined fleet; they really experienced one hell of a beating since they were not given ASW equipment." Ooyodo lowered her head as she said those words.

Arimato on the other hand only focused his attention at her and slowly grabbed her free hand. Ooyodo raised her head in bafflement as she felt her husband's hand.

"Have faith in them Ooyodo." Arimato says as he lets go of Ooyodo's hand before lowering his admiralty cap on the 3D map.

He then placed both of his hands at the mug that he received from Ooyodo a while ago.

"Seriously, you always say something... like that….anyway, what should we do now that the first four fleets have already garrisoned at Saipan Naval Base?" Ooyodo asked as she walked near the 3D map.

"Truth be told there is not much they can do right now. Securing Puerto Rico Naval Base, located on mainland Saipan, is still the primary goal of this operation but we cannot just shrug off the fact that they do not have enough supplies to do another light sortie lastly—"

"Not a single personnel was seen on the forward naval base…." Ooyodo interjected.

"Precisely, Shoukaku's statement about the land based abyssals that attacked the forward naval base still lingered inside my head. If we can't reinforce them soon….those land based abyssals will surely attack again."

Ooyodo placed her mug on top of the 3D map as she pressed all of her weight on the 3D map. Saipan has an overall area of 44.55 square miles, packed full of vegetation, rocky mountains, and steep cliffs.

Searching the whole damned island for survivors with just 57 shipgirls is a pipe dream of an idea. It would take months, maybe a year to fully search the whole island.

"The island had its people transferred to Japan three years ago after Kaga's fleet reached the island and eliminated the abyssals that were still lingering around its local waters. With no standing army it was imperative that they must be transferred out of their country so that we can have them under our protection….I really did not expect the abyssals to reclaim the island once more." Ooyodo let out a tired sigh.

Arimato stared at the tired expression that his wife is making. It troubled him seeing his wife acting this way.

"We lost 8,020 soldiers just to clear the island of any land based abyssal activity three years ago. It truly was devastating for the civilians back home." Ooyodo says as she pushes away from the 3D map before turning her gaze towards Arimato.

"We also can't do the same thing like what we did three years ago since we are low in manpower. Who would've thought that the Army initiated their own operation to retake Kyushu at the same time that we need all the manpower that we could scrape at the pool. If we were to retake Saipan in our own, two marine divisions is not enough for this." Arimato gritted as he averted his gaze from Ooyodo.

"Can't be helped that we only have 20,000 soldiers in reserve…" Ooyodo remarked as she placed her left hand on her waist. "Considering the fact that your small experimental platoon is still stuck on Europe right now, are we just going to leave them there for now?" Ooyodo added.

Arimato shook his head twice as he heard his wife's question. That way of thinking is already compromising his own principles of 'nobody will be left behind'.

"No we won't leave them behind….I guess letting you know now won't hurt right?" Arimato remarked as he raised his lowered head.

"Wait…Are you hiding something from me?"

Arimato smiled, unfortunately...Seeing that the deception plan that Yura made worked its wonders. It's about time for him to reveal it, he said to himself.

"Have you notice something strange with Yura yesterday?" Arimato started questioning.

Ooyodo's eyebrows furrowed after hearing the question. Then, she placed her right hand's index finger on her chin and started recollecting the time she spent with Yura, privately.

"She was a bit….cheerful."

"My Yura is a bit shrewd, seeing her making a cheery smile is beyond my field of imaginations. Lastly—"

"Hiryuu and Souryuu aren't available at the moment for sortie leaving behind Aoba-san as temporary flagship of the 3rd Main Battle Fleet. Wait….it can't be."

Arimato's smile widens as he saw his wife's expression crumbled into fear, which was unexpected.

" **Did you scrap them?!** " Ooyodo screamed in despair.

" **No I didn't you idiot!** I sent them on a retrieval mission since I can't forcibly retire Fustaku's Platoon from the European front line because Holland still has jurisdiction over them!" Arimato immediately shouted after Ooyodo gave the wrong conclusion.

"I told you to directly say important matters like _this_ with an heads-on approach because I might get the wrong idea!"

"I just wanted to make it sound thrilling you know! None of my shipgirls are going to be scrapped okay?! Geez, just thinking over it is already making me feel disturbed."

"Okay I messed up alright so stop making that expression!" Ooyodo gritted as tried hiding away her flushed face, then a realization came to her. "Wait, Yura sortied with Yamashiro yesterday. It was also noted that Yura sustained light damage during their approach towards Saipan…"

Arimato rubbed the back of his head as they came into an awkward stalemate. Wanting to break the stalemate Arimato says "So, umm, and yeah about Yura that went with Yamashiro's fleet…well…I had Akashi make a perfect copy of her using cybernetics….Ooyodo?" before his voice started to trail off into a faint whisper when he saw Ooyodo's cold gaze.

"Right….."Ooyodo scratched the back of her neck as she let out a fake laugh. She then turned her focus back at the Fleet Facility Computer that had a green light blinking, indicating that someone is currently calling.

Hastily Ooyodo ran towards the FFC and wore the headset that was placed on the wooden table.

"This is Ooyodo speaking!"

"This is Kaga, I would like you to answer a question." The shipgirl in question asked.

"What is it?" Ooyodo remarked.

"You aren't doing spicy things with my husband are you Ooyodo?"

"Waah?!" Ooyodo unknowingly yelped.

Arimato's eyebrow furrowed as he hastily approached Ooyodo who had her face covered with fury.

"What's wrong?" Arimato asked expecting bad news.

"No! No! Nothing really—"

"Also, we've found some survivors just north of the forward naval base. Tell my husband about this. We'll start interrogating them later so wait for upcoming details." Kaga added before the transmission ended with a static.

Arimato still haven't understood what was going on, he just stared at Ooyodo with a confused expression.

"They've found some survivors." Ooyodo announced with a rather shock tone.

~o~

1st Main Battle Fleet arrived at the naval base just before Myoukou's 14th Main Battle Fleet arrived with the supplies. Around ten SRD's were fixed by Shoukaku and Yamashiro's fleet members with some shipgirls already taking some rest after a stressful morning that they just went through, not to mention the hours they drained before they actually reached the 500 kilometer mark towards Saipan.

Saipan Naval Base is actually not situated inside the island named Saipan, rather the forward naval base is actually situated three kilometers west, on a small island named Mañagaha.

The island has an overall area of 100 acres. This island acts like a staging post for small patrol boats that are suitable for the shallow waters surrounding the small island. Although larger ships like container ships and warships can't dock on the small naval base, shipgirls however can.

A larger Naval Base could be seen from here namely Naval base Puerto Rico.

Shoukaku stared at the empty Naval Base whilst basked underneath the sun. The other shipgirls in her fleet are currently having fun on the white beach wearing their tattered clothing.

She is currently sitting on a rotting coconut tree with her dominant hand placed underneath her chin. The words of the survivors about her sister and another shipgirl named Atago still lingered in her head.

Whilst she was staring into the white beach she suddenly felt the coconut log sinking deeper into the sand as if the weight that's already placed on top was added. She turned her head to the side and saw one of the newly summoned shipgirl.

Her name is heavy cruiser Senjo, the third ship of the Ibuki-class heavy cruisers. She had this aloof look on her face as she stared back at Shoukaku. A smile emerged out of her face as she slowly opened her mouth.

"Shoukaku-san right?" The heavy cruiser asked.

"Uhuh…"

"Um, I would like to ask a question if you don't mind…"

Shoukaku wondered what the question would be in her head. She tried making impromptu questions like 'Do you like honey or something' but nothing good comes into mind.

Slowly Shoukaku shook her head waiting for the question that's about to come.

"Alright, now, I just realized something that's been bugging me for a while, sorry for being ignorant or anything…But the thing is…Why is it that _this_ island was named Naval Base Saipan when we aren't even on the island of Saipan?" Senjo asked with her left index finger raised pointing into the air.

Well to her credit, Shoukaku too asked that question as well, rather to herself only. Rummaging on her head, Shoukaku tried her best to answer that question.

"Well….."

But nothing good comes to mind. So instead she answered the question….sarcastically…since that is what Zuikaku would probably do.

"Well I believe that is because the soldiers who stepped foot on this island first wanted deceive the abyssals upon thinking that there's only a single naval base in Saipan instead of two." She said, a bit of a serious tone in the mix.

Senjo, on her part, only stared at Shoukaku as she sinks that answer inside her head. It took her a couple of seconds to allow that answer to sink in. She then blinked twice and said "That's all?" clearly disappointed at the answer that was given to her.

"That's what I could think of…" Shoukaku replied.

Senjo turned her attention towards at the shipgirl standing a bit further away from her. This said shipgirl had the same attire as Senjo albeit having a black and white stripped scarf around her neck, she was laughing heavily when she saw Senjo's expression.

"Zao you motherfucking liar!" Senjo shouted as she ran after the escaping shipgirl named Zao. "You said that its purpose was to confuse the aliens!"

Shoukaku sat there as she watched the two newly summoned shipgirls wrestle at the white sand. She watched how Zao was able to escape Senjo's arm lock by singlehandedly lifting Senjo into the air and slams her into the ground. This did little effect on Senjo who was already preparing for another lock.

"Such lively girls." Shoukaku softly muttered a smile emerged out of her lips while her hand was resting underneath her chin. "I wonder when they'll get the chance to feel what sinking is like..." Shoukaku softly muttered and immediately shook her head realizing the words that she just uttered.

Shoukaku's smile slipped out of her face as she covered it with both of her hands. A couple of deep breaths here and there, she then bit the lower part of her lip as she repeated the words in her head.

"Why did I say that?" Shoukaku asked herself.

It was just a simple question yet Shoukaku knew it was a morally wrong question. She wondered when she started to feel this way, this feeling like—

The depressing realization that her sister is not in this naval base— is not the reason.

When was it? What is it? What is this feeling?

What—?

"Shoukaku~! Kaga is looking for you~!"

In the horizon Sendai was waving her head towards her. Her hair was tied up into a pony tail and she was wearing nothing on her feet.

The moment she heard her name, Shoukaku lethargically stood up from her sitting position and tapped the dust off her red skirt. She then slowly walked past the still fighting heavy cruisers before finally arriving in front of Sendai.

"Where?" Shoukaku asked.

"Well she's waiting inside the main SRD building. She wanted to talk about the upcoming offensive after the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions eventual arrival tomorrow. Sendai says before she gave Shoukaku a small coconut rice cake named Bingka that was wrapped by brown banana leaves."Here have a bite. Terazuki baked them yesterday."

Shoukaku let out a tried smile as she received the Bingka from Sendai. As Sendai walked towards the others who were on the beach, Shoukaku slowly opened the banana leaf wrapper. What she saw inside is a brown cake that had small burned banana leaves arranged meticulously into kanji. The words 'Cheer up Shoukaku!' could be seen, Shoukaku could only make a saddened smile as she slowly picked the small banana leaves off the rice cake.

"Sendai…."Shoukaku muttered as she finally picked all the burned leaves away from the Bingka.

She then took a single bite at the Bingka and turned her attention at Sendai's back who was having a conversation with the other light cruisers.

"You….worrywart" Shoukaku added as she took another bite at the Bingka.

~o~

 **January 15, 2051**

 **Day 2 of Operation MR**

 **Time 6:30 A.M**

"So let's summarize the plans. First, the 1st Marine Division is to land on Naval Base Puerto Rico and eliminate the abyssals there. Once that is done I want the engineers to fix the SRD's that were stationed on that naval base so that the shipgirls could use them. Also cities Tanapag and Mutcho must be taken. The 2nd Marine Division will land on Obyan Beach and retake the former Saipan International Airport so that supply planes will be able to land on Saipan giving us ample supplies for this operation. Once the airport is taken I want half of the 2nd Marine Division to retake Dandan city and Afetna City."

Admiral Arimato Goto pointed two arrows at the specified locations that are vital for retaking Saipan. Firstly, the Naval Base Puerto Rico which acts as a main port for the shipgirls whose task is to prevent the abyssals from sending in additional reinforcements on the island.

Second is the former Saipan International Airport so that A-700 transport planes will be able to land for supply drops.

Lastly, the cities of Tanapag and Mutcho on the northern front and Dandan city as well as Afetna city on the southern front must be taken because this is where the Hu-type spawns are located according to the scout planes that the shipgirls stationed on Saipan Naval Base on Managaha reported. Taking out those spawn points is vital if they were to make this operation to end quickly.

With the objectives now issued Admiral Goto moved away from the map and faced the commanding officers of the 1st and 2nd Marine Division.

"Any questions?" Admiral Goto asked.

One hand in particular rose up prompting Admiral Goto to nod at the owner. It was Major General Natsuki Takamara.

"What about air supremacy, Admiral? The assigned 19 transport ships aren't capable of transporting the French made fighter planes since every soldier belonging to the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions have already occupied the free space in the cargo areas."

"Aircraft carriers Kaga, Shoukaku, Amagi, Kurama, Katsuragi; Light carriers Hiyo, Chitose and Escort carriers Taiyo and Unyo will take care of the sky. A total of 638 planes in total. They'll do something about air supremacy." Admiral Goto answered.

Major General Natsuki nodded as he turned his head to the side where Major General Masao Baba was sitting.

"What do you think Masao?" Major General Natsuki asked.

Major General Masao had his hand placed underneath his chin, his focus stared directly at the map that had multiple arrows drawn all over, signifying the flow of the operation.

"We're gonna need the shipgirls' support for this one. That includes every single one of your battleships and battlecruisers, Admiral." Major General Masao announced.

"Understandable. Although I can only give you two battleships and two battlecruisers for that single request Major General, the rest are nonnegotiable. Which begs me to question, have you ever heard about the problems of having a shipgirl perform surface bombardment?" Admiral Goto says as he sat back on his chair.

"Yes, the so called "Inverse Effect" was it called?" Major General Masao replied.

"Yes, for some strange reasons—although the calculations were correct the said shipgirls are still missing their intended targets. As if an imperceptible force is making them intentionally miss their intended targets. This does not affect naval engagements however which is odd." Admiral Goto added as he let out a sigh.

Major General Masao raised his hand towards Admiral Goto and made a single nod.

"Four surface combatant shipgirls is enough, Admiral. I only want them to plaster the beach first before we actually land on the expose Obyan Beach. We need foxholes for those marines who will be landing after all." Major General Masao says.

With that said Admiral Goto stood up from his chair and bowed at the officers inside the meeting room.

"Now then, the meeting has concluded. I pray good weather and a successful landing." Admiral Goto announced.

The other officers as well bowed before packing up their papers with them. Ooyodo arrived seconds later and opened the door for them. Ooyodo bowed as every officer exited the meeting room.

As soon as the last officer exited the room, Ooyodo entered and locked the door.

"A soundproof room? You expecting some spies, darling?" Ooyodo softly asked as she took a chair from the table and sat on it.

In front of her Admiral Goto was staring at the map of Saipan. He stared at the numerous arrows that were drawn on the paper map. There are two fronts, the northern front with 10,000 Marines strong and the southern front with 8,700 Marines strong.

Tomorrow a fierce land battle will commence, and he will be stationed here, waiting for numerous shipgirls and soldiers that he has sent there to come back.

"Preparations and plans are already drawn. Supplies and transport ships that are capable on high speed travel have been awaiting disembarkation. Shipgirls docked outside the naval base, waiting for the land forces to finish their preparations. Today surely is a busy and tense day isn't?" Ooyodo says with amazement as she stared at the back of her husband.

"It truly is, Yura." Arimato replied.

With her hair untied behind her, Yura then removed the mask that she was wearing to cover her identity.

"Hmm? Sharp eyes are we?" Yura says in a sly tone.

Arimato turns around and sighs as he sat in parallel with Yura who had her legs crossed in a suggestive manner.

"So? How did your meeting go?" Yura asked.

"It was fortunately fine. Wait, aren't you supposed to be in Moscow?" Arimato unknowingly shouted.

Yura could only make a smile as she leaned back onto her chair and uncrossed her legs. She then took something from her shirt pocket and slid it across the table that's separating the two of them.

"I was, one and a half days ago. Until the unitologist found us and started picking us off one by one. Well I stayed behind so that the other shipgirls could escape. And that is how I managed to get that letter. Did you know that I had to steal a fighter plane just to reach here—Arimato?" Yura's voice trailed off as she saw Arimato's expression as he read the contents of the letter.

With a click of his tongue Arimato slams his hand on the table effectively breaking it on his end. Yura's eyes widen since this is the first time she had ever seen Arimato making the expression that she is seeing.

The hairs of her body stood as she continued watching him. She felt a murderous aura surrounding Arimato…no it was not a murderous aura, but something even dangerous than that.

"A-arimato?" Yura calls him once more.

Arimato stood up from his chair and took a cigarette lighter from his pockets. With a flick of his finger at the friction roller the flame came out, with his other hand he places the letter above the flame, actively burning it.

"They recovered the queen's part from Otto. This is bad." Arimato announced as he stared at the letter that's already burning towards his hand. "I thought I was a step ahead…"

Yura sat on her chair unable to say anything to her husband. She was in a loss of words.

"Yura" Arimato suddenly called her name prompting her to stand up from her chair.

"Yes?"

"Thank goodness you're safe." Arimato released the burning paper from his hand and let out a warm smile at her.

Yura too made a smile, a smile that's been forced out of her, for the sake of her husband. She gripped her right hand as hard she could, regretting that she gave Arimato the letter. But then again, another part of her is saying what she did was right; Alerting him about the problem that she recovered from the unitologist.

"Yura, truly….thank god you are safe…" Arimato lowered his head and he said those words.

~o~

 **January 15, 2051**

 **Hamburg, Germany**

"No, I am telling you. French girls are better than Asian girls since they're taller and have more prominent assets." Mountain loudly announced at his squad leader who he had an argument with.

"Nah-Nah, Asian girls have this facial figure that immediately gives you the flutters. Have you ever wondered why there are more Asian models than European models?" Etnaz strongly opposed.

"Wait what?!" Sitting at the very back of the transport truck; Val shared his own statement, "Norwegian girls are better!" he shouted.

"What?!" Etnaz and Mountain simultaneously shouted greatly opposed at Val's statement.

It was already dawn when three Asian soldiers started bantering on which foreign girl is better. The commanding officer of the platoon 2nd Lt. Ermest Fustaku groaned as he watched the flat lands of Gerdshagen.

Just a few hours ago they entered the capital of Germany, Berlin. But unfortunately for them they only passed through the Berlin outskirt highway and didn't pass through the city highway. Now, they've been in the road for almost a couple of hours already but the city of Hamburg is still far away for them.

Highway A24. Fustaku saw a small road sign telling them in English that they are currently on highway route A24.

Fustaku let out a lethargic puff out of his mouth as he turned his head again inside where his 14 subordinates were talking and some were even resting.

Then a loud supersonic boom passes over them. Fustaku immediately popped his head out of the transport truck and saw a German fighter making a sharp turn in the sky. It was an old model fighter named the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Just behind the fighter is a fieldgray camouflaged circular object that had the same size as the late model fighter.

"Fockewolves!" Fustaku announced inside the transport truck.

There are six of them flying in the sky. Hastily, Fustaku reload his weapon and unflipped the safety switch on his weapon.

Several vehicles that had armaments on them were already firing their guns at the Fockewolves. Unfortunately for Fustaku two Fockewolves were flying towards them, preparing for strafing run.

"Fuck, incoming!" Fustaku yelled as the two Fockewolves started firing, white tracers were racing pass his view.

Fustaku fired his rifle towards the low flying Fockewolves not caring the fact that his rounds cannot penetrate the armor of the said abyssal fighters.

The abyssal rounds came in swooping pass Fustaku's helmet with paper thin distance. In this close proximity that even Fustaku heard the rounds passing over his head despite the fact that he was wearing a noise-canceler helmet.

The Fockewolves eventually made their pass. As the sound of their rumbling engines dissipate Fustaku lowered his aim and glanced inside the transport truck.

"Everyone okay?!" Fustaku shouted.

One after another the others inside gave their affirmation. A total of 14 men replied. Then a loud explosion erupted, Fustaku popped his head out of the transport truck again and saw another transport truck flipped at the side of the grassy road, clearly burning.

Soldiers who were inside the transport truck heedlessly ran out of the burning transport truck, screaming as they tried to put out the fire. They were dancing horrendously, no one was helping them. The convoy continued moving; and before long Fustaku couldn't even see the burning soldiers anymore as they came into a left turn.

"Get the titans out! Where are the pilots?! Dammit the friendly fighter was destroyed!" Came a voice on his radio.

Realizing that the situation was becoming dire, Fustaku grabbed Sel by the arm and yelled "Activate Venset and take down those fighters!"

Sel nodded as she jumped out of the transport truck, performing a roll as she landed on the grassy sidewalk. She then grabbed a circular beacon on her belt and activated it.

With a low rumbling noise, VT-01 nicknamed Venset made a rumbling noise from the transport truck that had the titan lying on a sleeping position.

With its dominant hand Venset removed the belt that was keeping its body in place. With the belts removed Venset performed a rolling motion to dismount out of the transport truck. A strong quake soon followed when it get out of transport truck.

Sel started running towards her titan. Venset rolls around until it was crouching on the grassy sidewalk. It then saw Sel running towards its general direction. It then instantly got up into a running motion and swiftly grabbed Sel and placed her inside cockpit.

"Lock-on those abyssal fighters before they make another pass!" Sel announced as the cockpit closed.

"Roger" Venset says.

Sel then grabbed the nervous system cord and attached it at the back of her helmet giving her full control of the titan. In a counterclockwise motion the 120mm autocannon that was in standby mode behind the titan was placed into effective firing position.

With the friendly fighter gone, all six fockewolves focused on harassing the convoy. Some were already unfortunate enough to be riddled with holes.

As the six of them prepared for another pass, Sel was already zeroing in on them. She pushed on the right analog stick and squeezed the trigger, firing the 120mm rounds. The rounds trailed on the sky, scoring four out of the six fockewolves.

The other two fockewolves breaks formation and turned towards Sel's direction. At the 700 meter mark they fired their guns at her. Scoring penetration holes at the cockpit but not before Sel shot down the remaining two.

Twenty-four holes could be seen at the outer surface of the cockpit. Sel was lucky enough that none of them managed to get a hit on her. She let out a tied sigh as she tried calming her shaking hand.

"Sel! Sel are you alright!?"

Sel pressed her dominant hand's index finger on the right side of her helmet. She let out a deep sigh before saying something back.

"Yep, I'm fine. The cockpit is littered with holes but none of them got a hit on me." She then raised her head then flipped her view from pilot-titan mode into pilot mode, allowing her to examine the penetration holes inside her cockpit.

"Thank god. Anyway, how's the convoy?"

Hearing her commanding officer's orders she then flipped backed into the pilot-titan mode and watched the transport trucks pass by.

The men inside the transport trucks were waving their hands towards her. Some of them were even shouting something but she couldn't hear them since she's inside the cockpit.

She then turned her view towards the rear of the passing convoy. Discovering a long trail of burning transport trucks on the road, that it was causing traffic for the other transport trucks.

"The convoy is hurt badly, I think I'll stay behind for a while and help clear the road." Sel announced as she started moving towards a burning transport truck near her.

Fustaku who was sitting inside the transport truck could see Sel's titan displacing. After hearing Sel's announcement Fustaku says "Roger, link up with us on Hamburg." and ended the conversation there.

"How's the convoy, LT?" Etnaz asked as he poured water into his mouth.

"The convoy's hit hard according to her. Well nobody expected Fockewolves to be flying in this airspace." Fustaku remarked as he poked his head out of the transport truck and spots a burning Fockewolf crashed near the road.

"It's not that it's rare to see a Fockewolf flying in this airspace, Lieutenant. We are currently twenty kilometers from the frontline right now. They have air superiority this airspace, that is until we receive additional fighters from France by next month." The driver at the front of the transport truck said clearly.

The driver was right, Fustaku said to himself. In the horizon, he could hear artillery fire. Although it was muffled just a bit that only an echoing crackle could only be heard.

"What about shipgirl planes? You don't have any?" Fustaku asked as he slowly approached the front where a small sliding window could be seen.

"The Kriegsmarine only have a single carrier. Other than her, we have nothing. We are basically fighting air supremacy here in Europe using human made jet planes."

"I see" Fustaku says as he remembered the lone Eurofighter Typhoon flying above them not too long ago.

"The air supremacy battle in Europe is bloody and costly. Everyday Germany trains 1,000 pilots per year and only 50 pilots would remain in just a single week. The French made F-200's was a godsend for our pilots but since France lacks aluminum deposits they were forced to cut the production of the expensive fighter planes until we find more aluminum deposits as well as an efficient route to deliver the planes since delivering them by plane is already out of the question.…." The driver added.

"Why not build the fighter planes in your country instead?" Fustaku calmly asked.

The driver sitting at the front shook his head after hearing Fustaku's remark. He then rotated the steering wheel in a clockwise rotation slowly turning the transport truck to the right.

"The frenchies aren't…..let's just get to the point. The French hate us since we are run by a nationalistic government. The scars from the second world war is still fresh in their mind, they aren't keen enough to forgive us yet. Hence the reluctance of sharing the technology that they used to build the F-200." The driver explained. His voice a bit cold and solemn.

With a solace gaze Fustaku looked at the driver and says: _The scars of the previous world war hurting the coherence of the European Alliance…They are the same as us as well…_ in his head.

"Then why not reverse engineer them?" Fustaku asked once.

"Now-now, you wouldn't want to split an already unsteady alliance now do you? Doing just that would invite a very nasty outcry." The driver answers with a carefree tone.

It was not long when they finally entered the outskirts of Hamburg city. Army tents could be seen all over the flat plains. Soldiers from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Russia were marching at the roadside leading towards the city square where an Army Headquarters was established.

The battle wary men glanced at the transport trucks that were passing them. Fustaku and the others could not believe the sheer amount of soldiers currently marching calmly on the road.

Audible artillery rounds could be heard in the horizon indicating that a major battle in currently underway.

Fustaku's transport truck then entered a checkpoint placed at the highway leading into the city square. He couldn't believe what he is seeing.

The sheer amount of destruction was too much for him. Tall destroyed buildings were everywhere. Large craters could be seen along the highway and with them bloodstains and destroyed military equipment.

It was a long twenty minute drive until they reached city square. Titans were parked just outside the perimeter. There are _a lot of them,_ Fustaku said to himself as he stared at one of the said titans that had multiple penetration holes along its exoskeleton.

Then their transport truck came into a halt. The driver turned his head towards the sliding window behind him and said.

"Welcome to Hamburg, I hope you'll stay alive longer than the other soldiers that I delivered here two days ago." He then got out of the transport truck and approached an unknown soldier.

Fustaku turned his head towards Lomo who was present during the meeting. Lomo nodded and says "Alright lets disembark and find a man named Captain Vladimir Putin of the 9th Mechanized Division."

After hearing that the others disembarked from the transport truck, swinging their long bags containing their personal belongings.

"Now, where do we find a single ruskie in a place where there are multiple ruskies and Nazis walking all over the place?" Mountain asked as he eyeballed an unknown German soldier passing in front of him.

"Would you please stop acting like an asshole? I wouldn't want to be silently killed by these foreigners during my peaceful sleep, if you don't shut that mouth of yours." Pvt. Renir 'Zeno' Quezon slapped the back of the head of his fellow countryman.

Zeno then turned his head to his commanding officer who was talking with Lomo. His eye then stopped on a nearby field hospital where wounded soldiers are being treated. He then grabbed his long bag from the ground and swung it on his back.

"Ursa, do you think we'll get out of here in one piece?" Zeno grabbed Ursa by the shoulder and asked.

Ursa shook his head as he too saw a row of dead soldiers covered with white blankets just outside of the said field hospital.

"Seeing the amount of dead, I don't think we'll last a single day if we are sent into the front lines." Ursa replied as he turned his attention towards Zeno.

Zeno turned his head back at the field hospital and clicked his tongue. He survived this long, now, he was sent into the bloodiest frontline in Europe, just his luck he said to himself.

"Lucas, tell Sel that we are currently at the city square." Fustaku grabbed Lucas who was sitting on the ground.

Lucas nodded and grabbed his radio and transmitted the message to Sel who stayed behind to help clear the road towards Hamburg. He then received Sel's reply so he called Fustaku and relayed her message.

"She said 'Roger, also I found something that might interest you.' and ended there. I do not know what this something is since she didn't describe it."

"Alright. Lomo, lead the way." Fustaku then turned his attention at Lomo.

Lomo let out a sigh as he approached a random Russian soldier who was eating above the lying 150mm artillery round castings. Fustaku watched as Lomo kept nodding and nodding and nodding until he finally scratched the back of his neck and says thank you in Russian.

"The soldier said that the 9th Mechanized Division is currently deployed at the other side of the bridge right now, where the frontline is."

"You understood what he was saying?" Rem asked in fascination.

"Nope, he was speaking in broken English but it was enough for me to fill in the blanks." Lomo explained.

"What are we gonna do?" Mountain asked.

Fustaku placed his hand underneath his chin and started thinking on what to do next. Since the 9th Mechanized Division is currently on a mission the only thing they can do now—

Then a titan came to his attention. This said titan was slowly coming into a stop in front of the row of Russian titans. The initials 9th M.D could be seen painted at the elbow of the titan.

"Well, why don't you ask the pilot of that one, Lomo." Fustaku pointed his index finger at the pilot who was slowly climbing down from the titan's cockpit.

~o~

The sound of shells clanking on the ground echoed throughout the destroyed city of Hamburg. Standing alone at the middle of the road is single BT-class Titan armed with a 75mm autocannon and is around 25 feet tall. It just unloaded a magazine packed full of high velocity 75mm round to a heavily armored lone Chu-type that is currently battered and bruised all over.

The Chu-type was snarling louder and louder, by growling the Chu-type could call in for reinforcements but unfortunately for the Chu-type there are no reinforcements coming. Its pack of Hu-types that was protecting it was already killed by the Titan.

"Borris just kill that Chu-type already and link up with Vladimir. I don't want our Nazi friends to be chewed to death by that cyka." A deep male voice entered the ears of the pilot inside the armed chassis of the Titan.

"Bitali you have to stop calling the Germans as Nazi's you know? That is offensive to them. Lastly they can hear you on the intercoms too." Borris replied as he turned the controls that allows his Titan to move to the left.

"They raped my grandmamma on the second world war that is enough for me to keep calling them Nazis!" Bitali shouted on the intercoms.

Borris could only put a hand on his pilot helmet that is made of ceramic and steel to protect his head from metal fragments and other injures that could hurt him in the head.

He felt hot. Literally, he is surrounded by hundreds of small monitors connected to a small camera outside the Titan as well as the two eye sensors of his Titan's head. He has 360 vision coverage making blind spots almost nonexistent when inside this metal cage.

The downside though was the heat wave emitted by these monitors. Imagine yourself inside a tank with the engine compartment right next to you and you travelling at the middle of the desert. Yes, that kind of hot.

"I need to install air conditioning appliances on this thing." Borris said with a snarl as he stopped his Titan and aimed the barrel of this 75mm autocannon at the Chu-type. "Sorry, little girl but I need to finish you off."

Borris fired a single round at the Chu-type's soft spot which is its armpit. He consumed a single magazine worth of 50 rounds just to remove the armor plating that protects it.

The Chu-type screamed in agony before falling down to the ground, its last breath uttered. Borris then let out a sigh of relief as the Chu-type ceased to move just then a video feed appeared at the top of his Heads up Display.

"Borris, Vladimir here I've arrived at the city center. Ground forces have already cleared the city and are now preparing for a major counterattack towards Wilhelmsburg. We should refuel and restock for the time being." Vladimir spoke with a flat tone.

"What's with you? You sounded flat just now." Borris asked before mobilizing his Titan again towards the city center.

"Well, Artyom just died. He died protecting the underwater subway tunnel that leads to the opposite side of the bank. The tunnel collapsed and his titan was crushed together with the soldiers attached to his unit."

With an unfazed expression Borris stared at the soldiers that were walking along the highway that he just recently defended. It was the only surviving highway that leads to the next sector bank of Hamburg. With that secured the ground forces could make a turn around by taking the next sector. And from there to the lower city of Hamburg before attacking a city named Leer before pushing through to the Netherlands border.

But—

"A replacement will arrive soon. He did what he has to do." Borris replied to his squad leader with a cold tone.

Vladimir did not urge to continue the conversation and just ended it right there. Unable to do anything about Artyom's death, Borris could only switch the auto pilot mode of the Titan and pulled a chalk from his breast pocket.

Inside the dome of radiating monitors Borris pressed the off button of a particular monitor and pulled it out. Behind it are tally marks of around 40 abyssals destroyed. With the recent kill that makes his kill count to 41 but those were not the only tallies written.

"That's the tenth one."

Written with X's right below the destroyed abyssals tally is the number of destroyed Titan's tally that were sent as replacements for the 9th Mechanized Division that is composed of four Titan battalions. Each of these Titan battalions has ten Titans each and is divided into two groups, five titans on each group. Lastly they are accompanied by a light infantry companies as well as a maintenance company.

Borris is under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bitali Zerov, which is second battalion, second titan group. He's been in the European theater for about a year and has seen enough action that could mark him as a Titan Ace in his group of five titans.

On his group Vladimir Putin is the Lead Titan together with other three Titan pilots: Artyom Tuss, Nikita Pavalot, and Alexi Smirnov.

However these are not battle hardened titan pilots these are the new replacements that were sent from Russia to fill in the gaps after losing three Titans on retaking Hamburg. These three replacements just took their baptism of fire at the Battle of Höltigbaum. An open field were Abyssal emplacements were concentrated to block the ground forces from breaking through. They luckily survived but in the end they still lost Artyom.

After twenty minutes of travel Borris arrived at the city center where his battalion has already set up a perimeter. Standing at the middle where a tent is erected is a group of soldiers wearing peculiar uniforms that he hasn't seen before. When he took glance at their shoulders he saw their nationality and at the same time he let out a _tsk_.

"Ah, Borris good to see you" Vladimir spoke in Russian and shook Borris' hand.

"The fuck is this about?" He asked.

Vladimir swayed and pointed a finger at the light skinned soldier that had an aura of not wanting to be on the frontlines. The soldier saluted with his right hand and spoke in English.

"Second Lieutenant, Ermest Fustaku of the 1st EDP Army Branch. We were sent here by Engineer Holland to test out the new Titans that he developed in Austria." The soldier said with a tone that is asking what the fuck I am doing here.

"What?" Were the only words the Russian pilot named Borris Kalashnikov uttered as he stared at the Asian soldier in front of him.

Borris then looked at Vladimir who was standing right beside the man named Ermest Fustaku and outright gave him a baffled glare. Vladimir could only make a crooked smile in return.

"Look, I am just following the orders that these soldiers passed on me. Furthermore the order came from _special_ command so refusing them is like saying you are fine being shot in the head." Vladimir explained.

Borris let out a groan as he turned his head back at the short Asian soldier. He then checked the other soldiers who are behind him. There are 13 of them all in all, some were skinny for his standard and some of them looked young for his standard.

"How did you get here?" Borris asked in broken English.

Fustaku was having trouble understanding what Borris' said then he turned his head at Lomo who was standing behind him.

"Ah, he asked how we got here." Lomo explained.

"Oh, um, we got here by plane. Well we disembarked at Yokusuka two days ago and then landed on a small city in the Ural Mountains. After that we disembarked again and landed on Landeck, Austria. We received further orders there and received our basic training in Pilot handling and tactics." Fustaku elaborated in English.

Borris, for his part, understood nothing. In fact he even wondered why he bothered asking these _Asian_ soldiers in the first place when he can't even understand English. With that in mind Borris made a shrug as he scratched his head finding a way to communicate with these soldiers in front of him.

"Vladimir, I don't think we'll have coherency with these soldiers." Borris said honestly.

"Well that is because you cannot speak English properly!" Vladimir yelled.

"You should've told me in the first place!"

Unable to understand Russian, Fustaku turned his head at Lomo. Lomo shook his head in denial indicating that he too could not understand Russian. Faced with a terrible stalemate Fustaku presented his hand in front of the Russian pilot named Borris and said with a serious tone—

"Well then. Let's get along."

Borris looked at Fustaku's hand and reached his own. With his dominant hand he shook Fustaku's hand said "What the fuck did he say to me?" in Russian.

~o~

 **Hamburg, Highway Bridge B  
Two hours later.**

"Say, LT. Mind explaining the reason again on why we are currently defending a highway bridge just outside of the Wilhemsburg sector…" Vera asked as he stared at the empty road in front of them.

There are seven bridges that connects the small island of Wilhemsburg and lower Hamburg. With the top most bridge named Köhlbrandbrücke captured by the 1st Infanterie-Division of the German Army after a successful counterattack two hours ago.

The second, third, fourth, and fifth bridges however were destroyed during the ensuing battle namely Kattwykbrücke, Alte Harburger Elbbrücke, Wilhelmsburger Brücke, and Europabrücke. The last two bridges namely Moorwerder Brücke; a highway bridge; and a railway bridge named Eisenbahnbrücke were undamaged.

The 9th Mechanized Division was ordered for protecting these remaining bridges until the 14th, 20th, and 11th Infanterie-Division have cleared Wilhemsburg. _These last two remaining bridges are vital for retaking lower Hamburg which will commence tomorrow morning_ according to the last words their Major General uttered during the quick meeting that happened two hours ago.

The two remaining bridges were re-designated as Railway Bridge A and Highway Bridge B so that there won't be any confusion for the other Non-German speaking divisions of Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia.

Unfortunately for Fustaku, the 9th Mechanized Division suffered heavy casualties from the recent battle during the early stages of retaking the Hamburg outskirts as well as during the counterattack to advance deeper into the _isolated_ city. A total of 2,340 soldiers remain of the 10,500. There are thirty working Titans originally in the 9th Mechanized Division with Fustaku's titans the grand total of titans in the division alone is now 34 battle ready titans but after the recent battles the remaining battle ready titans were now 12 with four out of the 12 titans coming from Fustaku's platoon.

Fustaku's platoon now designated Platoon B is now under the commands of Commander Bitali Zerov of the 2nd Mechanized Battalion.

Unfortunately for the division. The titan pilots of Platoon B namely: Fustaku, Etnaz and Ursa. Still haven't received their titans because the convoy that were transporting their titans caught a severe traffic when the convoy was suddenly strafed by Fockewolves. Fustaku's transport truck was not caught in the traffic since their transport truck was placed on the 5th slot. Sel however managed to activate her titan and eliminated the low flying Fockewolves, saving the whole convoy in the process. She also stayed behind to clear the road of any destroyed and disabled transport trucks. Also, Sel was now probably the most skilled titan pilot in the platoon and she is UNFORTUNATELY absent.

Faced with such a dire situation Commander Zerov ordered his platoon to make a defensive perimeter at the other side of Highway Bridge B. With the other bulk of the battalion redirected at Railway Bridge A expecting a heavy push there; Fustaku and two other Russian titan pilots were left to defend the bridge on their own.

"And that explains why we're digging foxholes beside this god forsaken bridge." Fustaku says as he started digging his own foxhole.

"Déjà vu, everyone?!" Pura announced.

"Déjà vu indeed!" Everyone agreed in unison.

This would be the second time Fustaku was ordered to hold a bridge. Not only they are exposed in the open, the Russian titans too were placed at the opposite side of the bridge and refused to move themselves forward. So in other words Fustaku's platoon was basically left on their own at the other side of the bridge.

"Just my luck" Fustaku muttered as he turned his gaze towards the river behind him. From there he saw someone. It was a matured looking woman that had pure silver like hair and a white porcelain skin. She was wearing a grayish uniform that resembles an officer's uniform during spring and a gray and white color schemed peak cap. Behind her are eight 420mm cannons arranged in four twin gun turrets, two super-firing gun turrets on the left and two at the right.

A shipgirl—is what Fustaku immediately identified the matured girl was. She had nine escorts behind her—six of which wore a blue one-piece uniform on their torso and a blue cap on their head with pure white rigging's on their backs and the other two had a gray long sleeved uniform that had two gold rings sewed on their cuffs, and had a white and gray camo pattern on their rigging.

The first shipgirl appeared to be a battleship indicated by the size of her cannons. She had multiple wounds all over her rigging—not just her though the other escorts as well had different kinds of damage on their rigging.

The ominous looking battleship type shipgirl glanced towards Fustaku's direction lowering her black visor a bit as her fleet sailed pass underneath Highway Bridge B.

And before long the shipgirl fleet disappeared from his view.

"Woah! Look German shipgirls!"

Fustaku turned his head to the left him and saw Val pointing his finger on the general direction at which the supposedly German shipgirls were seen. Having seen the shipgirls himself he shrugged at Val's call and continued digging his own foxhole.

"—"

He then remembered a certain shipgirl that he promised to call after he arrived in Austria two and half days ago. Fustaku paused from digging his foxhole and glanced at the satellite phone that Lomo stole from somewhere.

He still hasn't called her once, he wondered if she's doing alright at the other side of this god forsaken world.

It clicked to him finally when he saw the others getting back to their own foxholes and started digging. With a scoff, Fustaku impaled the sharp tip of his shovel into the ground and sat in front of the satellite phone.

"Alright, here goes nothing." He announced as he frantically typed the phone address of the his own satellite phone that he gave to a certain shipgirl. After inputting the said phone address he pressed the phone onto his right ear and raised his head into the blue sky.

The phone rang….and rang….a rang for a couple more until a loud clank came into his ear. A faint voice entered his ear.

"Moshi-moshi?"

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 ***So he finally decided to call her huh?**

 ***Anyways Happy New Year to you my dear reader o7**

 ***Ah shit, Mid-Term season is coming...goddammit.**

 ***I hope I got the names of the bridges right...Please forgive me ;(**


	34. Extra Chapter 34-A

**The Mop of the 1st Battalion**

* * *

So I suddenly found myself facing a beautiful Japanese woman wearing a tight looking cooperate attire. She had her hair tied into a ponytail. She also had a pair of glasses and a notepad on her hand. One thing to consider that we are currently inside a very dark room and that we only had a single stand lamp illuminating both of us, we also had a steel table placed in between us as well.

"So let's start with the very basics." The woman in front of me says.

"Uhuh."

"What is your name?" She asked whilst adjusting her glasses using her left hand.

Well, that is indeed a very basic question.

"I am Mophisto Illustrisimo Cardinal." I said.

The woman in front of me nodded and wrote something at the notepad on her hands. She then turned her eyes towards me and uttered another question.

"Have you tried sex before….?"

Oi! I thought you are going to ask me basic questions like address, age and such?! Why did you suddenly jump on the advance ones?!

"I uhhh….um…I uhhh….."

"Are you still a virgin perhaps?"

Oiiiiiiiiiiiiii?! Subtle! Be subtle woman!

"I uh….um…I did try….um….wait that is incorrect…"

"Okay I'm going to proceed to the next question."

"Oi! I still haven't answered the previous question yet!" I shouted.

"It seems you cannot answer the second basic question. So it is logical for me to proceed to the next basic question." The woman casually says as she adjusts her eyeglasses once more.

This woman is driving me crazy! Not only that, she speaks English soooooooooooooo fluently that I think I might have to improve my English speaking skills just for this woman!

"Alright this is the third question. What is your current occupation right now, Mr. Cardinal?"

"Call me Mop since that is what the others call me. It feels wrong that be called by my last name." I said to her waving my hands.

"Hmm is that so? Then I shall call you 'Mop' until this interview is over."

"Anyway why are you interviewing me? Did I win a lottery or something? Did I do something wrong that prompted the people like you to suddenly interview me in a place like this?" I said to her as I examined the dark room.

"This does not concern you. The JSDF just want to interview the soldiers that are currently trapped in Japan. After all itt's been two years since then. We wanted to know whether you soldiers are doing fine in a foreign country like Japan."

Is that so? Wait doesn't that actually concern me?!

There are currently 10,000 Filipino soldiers in Yokosuka Naval Base. We've been stationed here for almost two and half years now ever since we lost contact with our homeland. It really feels wrong to be talking about home right now.

"I can't blame you. Anyway, miss, are you part of the Imperial Army?" I asked her.

The woman shook her head. She then placed her hand inside her vest pockets and presented her identification card placed inside a rectangular wallet.

"I am Captain Ozawa Mare. I'm from the JSDF Management Section. I do not formerly belong to the Imperial Army." She announced as she returned her rectangular wallet on her vest pocket.

"Is that so?"

"Anyway answer the third question already."

"Eh? There was a third question already?"

"I did, Mop, about 12 stanzas ago. Alright I'm going to repeat the question again. What is your currently occupation right now?" She calmly retorted.

This woman is getting me crazy!

"In terms of occupation well….I am, currently enlisted in the Philippine Army. I was transferred to the Philippine 501st Expeditionary Legion: Division 1, 19th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Una Company on July 18, 2045 before that however I belonged to the 101st Infantry Division, 77th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, and C-Company. In Una Company, I was enlisted on first platoon, second squad. My roles are Automatic Rifleman and Grenadier. "

Captain Ozawa scribbled on the notepad. She then made a couple of nods before pointing her attention towards my way.

"Have you been on major engagement before you were transferred in the 501st Legion?"

I shook my head. After getting out of ABT (Army Basic Training) I was then enlisted in the 101st Infantry Division. It was to be expected that I was to be shipped to the European Front where the Spanish-Filipino war was still ongoing. But before I was shipped to Barcelona, I was suddenly transferred to the Philippine 501st Expeditionary Legion. I said that to her, Captain Ozawa then scribbled some more on the notepad. The conversation was already becoming pale and boring.

"Do you have any citations while you were in the army?"

"Citations? Well, I graduated Ranger School, after that went immediately to Paratrooper Training and received my Jump Wings, and finally after that went on a rigorous training to become a weapons expert. Nothing much really…" I said to her with a complacent tone.

"Let's get into the good stuff." Captain Ozawa says.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly the aura around her change, like the carefree aura that was surrounding her a while ago was replaced with something that makes me wary of her. Wait, I am feeling nauseous.

"Here, drink this." Captain Ozawa presented a cup of water towards me.

Leisurely I took the cup from her hands and gulped it down. And just like that the nausea faded.

"Now, according to the records that we got from your country you were actually imprisoned for murdering a 19 year old college student on January 12, 2043. You sentence was a five year imprisonment but was pardoned two months later. As part of your punishment you were forcibly enlisted to the Army. Now, care to explain why you murdered that college student?"

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

And just like that my mind suddenly went blank. Jumbled words that even I can't even understand, the nausea too suddenly came back.

I placed my hand on my forehead and closed my eyes. Ughh, the pain is unbearable. Wait—

"Why do you have to bring that up? That's already….the past must not be….bakit?"

"Tell me, Mop, this is your final question before I release you out of this room." Captain Ozawa walked near me and said those words near my ear.

I could feel her soft breath touching my ear. I lost control over my body. I can't move, it was as if something was shackling me. This can't be, this can't be, this can't be!

"Say why don't you tell me, murderer?"

"Murderer? No, wait that was a mistake! I didn't murder anyone. It was just a false accusation. It was because of that false accusation that I was given a pardon….."

Captain Ozawa leaned back from my ear and walked towards the opposite side of the table. She then scribbled on the notepad. After that she placed the notepad on the table. On it where two drawings, one is a woman kneeling on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. The other was a woman standing with both of her hands wrapped in front of her.

"Now, tell me which of these two entices you?" She asked.

"Wha-what the hell?!"

My head fell on the table. I couldn't carry its weight anymore. My chin fell on the table and my eyes were aligned on the two drawings.

My eyes were pinned on the second picture….

"I see…." Captain Ozawa announced as she took the notepad from the table.

"What the hell…?!"

"It seems you are easily enticed with women who had a strong presence. Basically you have sadistic tendencies. It seems the investigations done before you were forcibly enlisted in the Army were correct, you have sadistic tendencies." Captain Ozawa announced a smile emerged out of her lips.

"You….are….driving me crazy….." I said to her.

"I see….No wonder you were smiling heavily during the interview."

Eh? Smiling heavily?

"You're sadistic tendencies were clearly showing itself long before we even started talking to each other. I was just lucky enough that you didn't took the initiative and pinned me down. If that was the case, I would've been in a very _precarious_ spot.

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

You drive me crazy…..

"Alright, this concludes the interview. The drug should work its wonders soon. When you finally open your eyes again your memories about this interview will be erased permanently. My face, name, and our conversation….all of it."

"What a funny interview…..Say, can I at least stab you with a knife?" I asked her making a wide smile.

"Unfortunately, you can't." She replied.

And just like that, my world was slowly engulfed with darkness.

~o~

"It was a really _precautions_ interview, Admiral. I did not expect his presence alone was enough to give me the chills. He was like a lone red eyed abyssal princess..."

"Calm down, Katsuragi. Anyway, here take this. Go get some beer or wine." Admiral Goto extended his hand towards the shaking Katsuragi in front of him.

Katsuragi extended her shaking hand and received her pay from her Admiral. She then stood up from the chair and saluted at Admiral Goto before exiting his office.

Admiral Goto lowered his head to the table where a notepad was placed. It was the interview notes that Katsuragi wrote for him. He ordered Katsuragi to interview a certain soldier from Una Company that caught Yura's attention. He didn't knew back then that, what Yura was pointing out was the _sadistic_ tendencies that the soldier have.

"Good thing I gave Katsuragi the memory eraser pill as well as Akashi's paralysis pill."

If those essential items weren't distributed before the interview could've started. Who knows how the interview would've ended.

Knowing the man's nature, Admiral Goto doubted that it would've ended smoothly.

Now for the next soldier...

 **Chapter End**

* * *

 **Base64**


	35. Translator's Notes

**Welcome to the Real World**

* * *

It took me some time to actually finish translating the supposedly 33rd chapter of this book. I've already consulted Akashi about the complexity of the language itself but she still pleaded that I must finish this book for someone that she knew. Someone that is important to her. Someone that is more important than the ongoing Abyssal War.

Well I couldn't blame her. She and I have a lot of similarities. Both of us are not front line fighters, both of us are worthless when faced with a six feet abyssal, both of us are pretty much idiots when it comes to a do or die situation where one wrong step could be our very demise. Lastly, both of us are stubborn creatures.

Akashi is a repair ship-type shipgirl. She has numerous jobs like cleaning the shipgirl dormitory building, repairing damaged shipgirl equipment, and tending wounded shipgirls.

I on the other hand, is just a mere normal—common human being. I was enlisted in the Navy after I graduated high school a year ago. By that time the Abyssal War has already entered its interlude. The Eastern countries has now linked up with the isolated countries in the west, the America's. This was the end goal of the Imperial Japanese Navy. They needed the help of the largest countries in the west. They needed the resources to end this war. They needed that vast number of shipgirls that were still unsummoned by the United States Navy. Up until now, for how many years has it been, USA fought the abyssals on even grounds. Using outdated tactics that were formulated after the Third World War.

Really, I do not care how they managed to stay that long. Furthermore they fought the abyssals in an even stalemate. Even though their capital, Washington D.C, fell to the abyssals during the first days of the Abyssal War they were still able to push back the abyssals into the sea and retook Washington three years later. That was way before Admiral Goto's shipgirls reached California.

Seriously, foreigners are such intriguing creatures. Just like the abyssals that attacked our shores during the first days of the Abyssal War, the cold period so to say.

How many have we lost already? One million? Six million? I don't even know. More like, I already forgot to count pass 150,000.

A lot of the total casualty tally in the Imperial Japanese Army came from the Southern Army. We were told about the eventful demise of the Southern Army that was tasked on defending the Kyushu Island Group. Millions upon millions of civilians were unable to evacuate due to the ferociousness of the abyssals. If it weren't for the soldiers of that unknown division, the abyssals could've broken through and pushed towards Tokyo.

Unfortunately not much is known about this unknown division. The only information that I got from my own research was that this division had a 45% casualty report with most of the soldiers belonging in this division died during the defense at Kanmonkyo Bridge and a 98% casualty report during the Army Spring Offensive on 2051 to retake the lost Kyushu Island Group.

According to the classified records in the Army, the division was officially disbanded on 2052 a year after the 2051 Spring Offensive, due to the lack of soldiers to refill the blanks in the ranks.

Man those soldiers must've been through tough times. The 2051 Spring Offensive, what a national blunder.

"Gintoki-kun! Stop staring at the setting sun already!"

A sudden head chop got me out of my senses. My head hurts like a boulder was slammed on top of it. I was just lucky enough that I was still able to keep my consciousness.

With an irritated expression, I turned my head to the side where the voice originated. I did not expect my superior to be standing there.

"Akashi-san what the hell is wrong with you?!" I yelled.

"There's nothing wrong with me really. Well I do have sexual frustrations sometimes but I can keep them in check you know?"

"You shouldn't have said that! I was not asking about your sexual frustrations dammit!"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Gintoki-kun? You are still young! You are still 19 years old! Thinking about boobs and sex is normal!" Akashi declared placing a fist on her chest.

"I don't want to hear it from you!"

Seriously, this woman just blurt out nonsense things one after another. No wonder she wasn't sent at the front lines!

"So? Have you finished translating the first arc yet?" She asked.

"First arc? I didn't even realize that the first arc already started!I couldn't even understand the plot of this novel at all! At the first page it says that this story is about his experiences about the countless shipgirls that he has encountered along the way. But after translating the 29th chapter, somehow, this novel suddenly lost its way! He said that this novel is not about the suffering that was inflicted on the human race when the abyssals arrived but then all of a sudden he was sent into the European Theater and talked about what suffering is! Doesn't that contradict the words he said during the third chapter!? I was sure enough that I was going to drop this novel after the third chapter! Furthermore I shoud've changed the title to "My diary" instead!" I declared. Huffing heavily in front of my superior who was giving me a radiant smile.

Can't she see that I am having a hard time here?!

"But you still continued didn't you? You still continued translating the book after the third chapter right?"

"True. It's true that I said that I was going to drop the thought of translating this novel after the third chapter but you were begging me to continue. How could I just stop there after you said that this is something that's very important to you?"

Eh? Eh?! I said that out loud didn't I?! Ah! I messed up! Now she's going to think that I have feelings for her! How could I mess this up?!

"Ehhh, is that so? Well," Akashi-san leaned in and whispered on my ear. "Manipulating emotions is easy. Especially in front of a young man like you...hehehehe."

"You wrench! You were just taking advantage over me all this time!?" I yelled moving a bit further away from Akashi-san that my back was already touching the roof railings.

She started moving closer. She placed her right hand on my chin, her green eyes stared directly to mine. It was like she could see through my soul with those eyes. My body hair immediately rose up, with this up close I didn't even realize that Akashi-san is actually much taller than me. MUCH MORE TALLER THAN ME!

"Hehehehe. Alright enough teasing." She said as she moved away from me. "I am really grateful that you continued translating that book. As you can see, I am a hopeless person when it comes to literature. Although your English grade was just 76 percent after you graduated high school that is still enough for me."

"You physically harass me and now you are verbally harassing me too?! Also getting a 75 in English is already a good thing you know?! And I didn't even cheat during the final exam!" I declared with confidence.

"Oi, the last one was not needed." Akashi-san scorned and then let out a tired sigh. "Way to ruin the mood, numbskull."

"You were setting the mood?! You were setting the mood for what?!"

Oh come on, stop teasing me already. I was expecting this place to be free of any annoyances but unfortunately for me. The second most annoying person in the naval base is currently standing near me.

"Look you don't have to force yourself you know?"

What a minute did I just experienced a deja vu right there? It was like, the sentence was stripped out of a book that I just recently translated.

"We can just end it all right here and go on with our lives like all of this didn't happened." Akashi-san coldly added.

"OI! You just stripped Fustaku-san' sentence from chapter 24!" I complained.

"Ah that chapter! Oh dear lord it was so good, especially chapter 23! Although I knew Fustaku-san was a 30 year old virgin I did not expect an intimate interaction between him and Zuikaku-chan~!" Akashi sequel in joy as she reminiscent the 23rd and 24th chapter of Fustaku-san' book.

Yeah, chapter 23 and chapter 24 was an unexpected chapter indeed. I mean who would ask a stranger that you just met a few hours ago on a sudden beer celebration and then after that immediately have an intimate time together?! Doesn't that break the normal flow of a relationship?!

Crush— Confession—Acceptance (whether you are dumped or accepted)—Multiple dates— Family Visit— Years of Interaction together—Sex.

That two chapters basically skipped steps one up to six and immediately went to step seven! Even on the 24th chapter after they did step seven they did step two! They are breaking the natural flow of love!

"Hoho, how naive of you Gintoki-kun."

"What?" I raised my head towards my senpai.

"That's what you call." Akashi-san paused as she did a pose that I think I've seen before. "Adult's love"

"No its not. It's basically a one night stand that escalated into something that's a bit close to love!" I complained.

"Well that is just how things work." Akashi-san professionally says as she crossed her arms in front of her. "Human beings are not the same, Gintoki-kun. Well physically, humans are basically the same but emotionally wise, we aren't. Some people just like to have a sex related life, some like to have sex only, some just want to have a beer-mate and then have sex together."

No-no, human beings are the same even more so emotionally. Human beings are just barbarians driven by their natural instincts to multiply. They only think of sex, sex, sex, Akashi-san, sex and beer! Ah, I included a name in there, just don't mind that.

"Hmmm...I can't think of a follow-up at the words that I just uttered. Well let's just drop that topic and move on." Akashi-san announced.

You can't just say that can you? I mean how could you just drop it there?

"And here I thought, I'm gonna have a peaceful sunset." I leaned on the roof rails and slumped.

"Hmm? Is Orizuru-chan still buggering you?" Akashi peered her head to the side and asked.

Ah, Orizuru-chan. That bloody bastard, if that little girl gets into my view I will seriously throw her off this roof!

"Ahahaha, I should've asked that question. Anyway why don't you just leave her be. She's a newly summoned shipgirl after all. Young one's tend to act that way." Akashi placed her right hand on my left shoulder as she leaned on the roof railings as well.

"That destroyer has been barging-in my room in the morning and running out if I chase her off, screaming "Virgin! Virgin! Virgin!" On the hallways! Its embarrassing you know?! I couldn't even get a score on her because Zuikaku-san; her motherfucking guardian; is always there to stop me dead on my tracks!"

"Well I don't blame you. Zuikaku-chan tends to be overly possessive at something that belongs to her sometimes. Just like that time when—ah, let's not mention that one."

Wait you just said something that just peaked my interest!

"Zuikaku-san is actually an over possessive person? Well I did not expect that one from the fleet's ace!" I said with bafflement.

"Look, people tend to be selfish sometimes okay? When I say overly possessive I am not saying that its bad. That is just how our emotions work, being selfish is good sometimes and sometimes being selfish only invites annoying problems. But that is what we are, that is what makes us human. Take me for example, I always over-classify a person even though they are not like what I classify them as!"

"Are you saying that Zuikaku-san' classification about being overly possessive was false?!"

"Yes." Akashi-san casually answered.

Then why are you talking about human emotions and what makes a human being human if you aren't even sticking to the main plot?! Redundancy is bad, Akashi-san!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Akashi-san let out a very audible sigh. It was an over exaggerating sigh.

I turned my eyes from the setting sun unto her. Akashi-san had her hands extended through the gaps of the roof rails and her forehead placed on top of the flat surface of the roof rails.

"Acting like an idiot is tiring~"

"Yes, so please I beg of you. Stop being an idiot already!" I moved away from the roof rails and bowed at her side.

"Yes-yes, so shut up already. I can't believe my character is already this twisted. Originally I was supposed to be a shipgirl whose thoughts were just about helping other shipgirls and cleaning the shipgirl dormitory so why did I suddenly become one of the main characters?"

Oi, stop breaking the fourth wall already.

Akashi-san then suddenly paused and raised her head from the roof rails and into the beach in front of the building that we are currently standing. Her eyes widen as she moved her hands from the gaps of the roof rail bars and into her skirt pocket, revealing a high-tech binocular. How the hell was she able to store a binocular there is beyond me.

"Speaking of the devil. Look what I am seeing right now, Gintoki-kun." Akashi said with a suggestive tone.

"Look, I don't want to see something that's going to ruin my sanity so please don't." I complained as my eyes natural turned towards the direction in which Akashi was pointing her finger at.

What I saw was Zuikaku-san and the bloody cunt Orizuru-chan. In a rare occasion, Zuikaku-san would let her hair down and walk on the beach on her own. There has been a rumor roaming around why she lets her hair down at times.

The rumor was that she has a terrible case of skin disorder called dandruff.

"Did you know that Orizuru-chan is not actually a destroyer-type shipgirl?" Akashi-san faintly asked.

Wait are you telling me that bloody brat is not actually a destroyer but instead is classified as something else?

"She's actually a carrier-type shipgirl. In fact, she has the same plane capacity as Hakuryuu-san."

As of date, Hakuryuu-san has the largest air group in the Combined Fleet at 100 planes with Taiho-san being the second at 83 planes. That small brat in the same field as Hakuryuu-san is beyond my field of imaginations! A person that's on par with Hakuryuu-san should be around 180 centimeters tall and has prominent assets! That brat is only around 120 centimeters and her assets are only her cheeky smile and brash attitude!

"Heh, really such a caring guardian." Akashi-san softly uttered.

Orizuru ran towards Zuikaku's leg accidentally crashing Zuikaku-san into the ground. Zuikaku-san was really pissed by this so she started scolding the little brat. The brat didn't cry nor ran away, she just sat on Zuikaku-san' lap and listen to the unrecognizable words that was Zuikaku-san was uttering, even lip guessing wasn't helping me. Then the brat brightly smiled at Zuikaku-san, few seconds later a similar smile emerged out of Zuikaku-san's face as she happily tickle the small brat whilst sitting on the beach. She then hugged the little brat and toyed with her black hair. Turning the laid down hair of the little brat into twin tails at the side, imitating Zuikaku-san' signature hair style.

"I know you are an oblivious, ignorant, and bashful person Gitoki-kun. You might not understand now but —" Akashi paused as she lowered her binocular and walked away from the roof railings. "You should know that there are things in this world that's worth fighting for." She says as she walked towards the exit.

I stared at her back as always. Her sturdy yet slim back that's carrying the responsibility of the Combined Fleet's last remaining repair ship. She placed her hand on the door knob and spoke with an audible voice.

"I know I am being selfish but let me repeat it once more. Please finish translating the book. I will not let you leave this island until you finish translating it." She said before closing the door.

So I was left on the roof once more, alone, an empty coffee can on my hand and a heart that feels like its being crush by an imperceptible force. And the last part of her sentence, that was a threat right?!

I let out a sigh as I turned my head once more into the beach where I saw Zuikaku-san and the little brat Orizuru. However, Zuikaku-san was no longer there but instead her older sister Shoukaku-san was there carrying the little brat in front of her as she watched the setting sun on the horizon.

"Things that's worth fighting for." I repeated Akashi-san' sentence.

Such an overused and over-saturated sentence indeed. Either way, that sentence alone gave me the ardor to continue translating the 35th Chapter.

 **Chapter End**


	36. Pinakamasamang Kalalabasan

Worst Consequence/ **Pinakamasamang Kalalabasan**

* * *

~o~

 **Sometime in the near future**

"I'm going back." I said profoundly at the man in front of me.

"Go back? To where?" He asked, raising a Sapporo beer can towards my face.

I shook my head and lifted the chair forwards that the cushion on the chair was already underneath the table. The man in front of me gulped his beer and slams it on the table savoring the taste that just poured pass his throat.

"Where else? To my room clearly. I still have things to finish before I can finally savor my summer break." I said to him honestly.

It's actually pretty rare to get yourself a Summer Break whilst being a soldier in the Navy. Well that's only applicable in the Navy since most of its personnel are either in Marine Guards, Pilots in the Air Corps, Ground Troops in the Marine Division or a Maintenance Worker performing maintenance on equipment inside a Naval Base. Basically, every personnel enlisted in the Navy are doing nothing unless something big happen. And nothing big has happened in Mainland Japan so, Summer Break it is!

The Imperial Navy only has a couple of warships available right now. Most of them are transport ships and a handful of destroyers, the Kaiki-class destroyers. We have 22 of these specifically.

The monarchist nation named Japan has a three year draft written in its law. Every three years the JSDF or Japanese Self Defense Force would randomly draft civilians that are around 18 to 25 years of age and enlist them either on the Imperial Japanese Army or in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The length of service that the enlisted men must serve before they obligatory service expires is three years as well.

After graduating high school a year ago, I was enlisted on the Imperial Japanese Navy as a Marine Guard. Basically, a marine guard is just the Navy version of a police officer whose job is to guard a Naval Base from any unwanted personnel such as low ranking soldiers and civilians.

The training to become a Marine Guard only takes a year which is composed of a nine month period of basic training and a two month period of weapons training.

Once you graduated from the Maritime School of the Imperial Japanese Navy or MSIJN, you are immediately transferred to a Naval Base that is lacking personnel to guard the Naval Base perimeter effectively. If there aren't any, you are instantaneously transferred into the Marine Division.

I really don't want to fight on the front lines so I was really grateful that I wasn't transferred to the Marine Division unlike my other 2,533 batchmates that graduated with me.

"You are still hung-up on that book that Akashi-san asked you to translate? Enough already, you are straining yourself. I mean that book is like an Ancient Manuscript where no one could understand a single word in it." The other marine guard that goes with a name of Takeshi Minato spoke with a rather irritated tone.

Seriously why are you irritated when I am the only one who is having a hard time translating it? You only had to watch the outer perimeter of the Naval Base while I had to work hard inside Akashi-san's workshop while at the same time translate the book that I accidentally found on her workshop.

"I've already finished 34 chapters so far. It kinda feels bad ending the translation there." I said to him.

"Enlistmen Toshiki Gin, you are a Marine Guard whose job is to guard a Naval Base' perimeter from any unwanted peering eyes not a goddamn literature nerd who reads and translates foreign books." Minato said to me.

I let out a sigh and approached the exit. I turned my head towards him and spoke with a rather complacent tone.

"This does not concern you, nerd."

I then closed the door and walked along the lightly lit hallway of the Marine Guard Office. This building is currently erected outside the inner perimeter of the Naval Base, away from the shipgirl dormitory where Admiral Goto's shipgirls are living.

Usually the inner perimeter of the Naval Base is bustling with people either from the Marine Guard Office, Maintenance Office, or from the Air Corps. But right now, even though it's Summer Break for everyone in the IJN, the inner perimeter is somewhat empty other than my very own presence.

"Well, everyone is currently in Mindanao right now. Of course the Naval Base would be somewhat empty." I softly said as I trekked along the road leading to the inner perimeter gate.

When I finally reach the inner perimeter gate, I waved at the marine guard on guarding shift right now. The soldier nodded back and opened the fence gate.

"You still have work done in Akashi-san's workshop?" The middle aged man asked.

"Well you could say that. I think I won't be coming out until morning." I said to him honestly.

The middle aged man nodded and only closed the fence. He then sat back on the chair that he placed near the gate.

"I see. Good luck on whatever you are doing then!"

I nodded at him and faced the road leading to Akashi-san's workshop which is not very far from the inner gate. The night sky was really beautiful. Despite being in the city, I can still see the dazzling night sky very clearly. I wonder if ever Akashi-san can also see a dazzling night sky like this in Mindanao.

Yes, right now. Akashi-san being the only repair ship left in the Combined Fleet, was also transferred to Mindanao together with the 1st, 3rd, 11th, 12th, 14th, 20th, and 9th Fleets forming Task Force South.

And its been four months already since they left Yokosuka Naval Base.

I faced the metal door that's been replaced multiple times in a span of just a year. It's not that the Naval Base is being attacked by Abyssal Planes ever time but instead, it's because of the annoying shipgirls that kicked the door open every time they pay a visit for repairs.

After letting out a sigh, I grabbed the keys from my pockets and inserted it on the keyhole, giving it a clockwise turn and unlocking it in the process. I then placed my hand on the door knob and pushed it inward.

The dark room met my attention. I cautiously approached the light switch near the entrance. It took me some time to find the actual switch since it's a small model unlike those in the Marine Guard office where you could just feel it by its size.

And just like that the workshop was illuminated like a Christmas tree, lighting up the room in a continuous manner.

Lathe machine, milling machine, drilling machine, forming machine, welding machine, riveting tools, hand tools, rulers, straight edges, measuring devices, measuring tools, a large calculator, weighing scales, and lastly a shipgirl portable dock that Akashi and her fellow repair ship colleague built together.

Every single of these tools were used by Akashi every single day. Either by repairing damaged shipgirl battle rigging or manufacturing ammunition for every shipgirl that needs it.

Everything that a shipgirl needs to do its job effectively in the battlefield is built and repaired here. But right now, all these tools here inside this very room were just catching air dust.

Well this is a natural case. I mean, it's been a while since I've seen a shipgirl. Like, the last time I ever saw a shipgirl or interacted with one was two months ago. That was before majority of them were transferred on a naval base that's close from the front line.

After the Pacific Ocean was partially liberated and clear route that connects the east to the west was secured, the next course of action was to liberate the Oceana Region. An archipelagos country named the Philippines was nearer to the Oceana Region so it was decided that the archipelagos country would act as a staging zone to liberate the Oceana Region. In its most southern island, Mindanao, a large Naval Base was erected on an island named Sulu located southwest of Mindanao about 143 kilometers away.

Since I was Akashi-san's assistant, I've been coming here every day to clean the workshop due to my superior's absence. Also, this is where my room was placed. It's a small room that only had a cabinet, a small table, and a single bed. The bathroom is located at the back of the workshop and both Akashi and I use it every time, whenever we take a dump or take our daily bath.

Because of that there would be times where I accidentally open the bathroom door and saw her bare skin with my two brown eyes.

No, it happens frequently that Akashi-san herself already got used to it that she would just verbally harass me whenever this happens. I mean, it's not my fault that the bathroom lock is broken! She herself would accidentally open the bathroom door as well and saw me in my bare skin, albeit accidentally as well.

Like I said it's a complicated life, especially being Akashi-san's assistant.

I shook my head as I closed the workshop door and locked it from the inside. I made sure that the windows are closed too since there are pesky destroyers in the past that would sneak inside from the shadows and steal some Repair Buckets containing Akashi-san's repair formula. Its like a natural thing for me really after experiencing their thieving acts almost every week.

The brown entrance of my room caught my attention. It was half open. Did a destroyer somehow sneak inside the workshop while I was having a beer session with Minato?

This better be not the annoying brat that's been giving me a headache ever since I was posted as Akashi-san's assistant inside the inner perimeter.

I slowly approached the half-open door and peaked inside. With my table lamp lit up I saw the silhouette of the said burglar. It was not the annoying brat, this one had a taller body figure and by the looks of it she was wearing a yellow kimono top and a green skirt.

"Oi, what are you doing in my room?" I asked as I somehow sneaked behind her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

The said burglar was none other than Hiryuu-san herself. She let out a loud yelp as she jolted to the side of my bed. I shook my head in irritation knowing that one of the said older shipgirls entered my room without my consent.

"Ah, Gintoki-kun! Don't scare me like that. For a second there I thought that an Empress-type abyssal somehow sneaked behind me." She scratched the back of her neck.

"Don't put me in the same level as those things, Hiryuu-san. I'm not a sadistic person you know?" I complained as I approached the table and saw Fustaku-san's book opened at the 23rd chapter.

Ah, so she was reading the part where Zuikaku-san and Fustaku-san had an intimate time together? I slowly turned my head towards Hiryuu-san who was sitting on top of my bed.

"Oi, what were you doing in my room?" I asked with a rather serious tone.

"I-it's not like that I did something bad." She replied with a rather bright smile

"It's not that I can tell that you did something bad." I replicated her sentence and added a bit of satire in it.

Hiryuu-san's bright smile immediately shattered into a million pieces, well not literally. She then started averting my gaze as she stood up from my bed.

"Really I didn't. I was just curious on what this book is all about but it looks like I couldn't understand a single word written in there." She said while letting out a forced laugh.

Although I already knew that you and Fustaku-san had some interactions together. I then turned my head back to the said book. Then a thought snapped in my head.

So you aren't capable of understanding his native tongue huh? Well, let's not jump into conclusions. I haven't really finished translating the whole book so who knows?

"Ah, you knew Fustaku-san right? He wrote this book using his native language." I said to her while I sat on top of my desk.

"Fustaku-san…?" Hiryuu tilted her head to the side clearly confused.

"Oi, you don't have to lie you know? This book even revealed that you and Fustaku-san had an interaction together. It was as if you were already close enough that you even invited him to a night date." I said to her blankly.

"Eh?! Something like that was written there?! Wait-wait, I'm still an untainted lady right? No-No, seriously there is no way that happened right?"

Hiryuu-san hastily approached the exit. She was pointing her finger outside as if she wanted to elaborate something.

"I took some damage while I was returning here for my own frontline vacation. I need your help to fix my flight deck. Akashi told me that she taught you how to fix shipgirl battle rigging when I was still posted in Sulu Naval Base. So would you kindly fix them for me?" She said.

"You…"

Hiryuu-san tilted her head to the side again. Her right hand placed on her right cheek, scratching it.

"You….." I paused as I watched her expression, "You don't remember do you?" I asked her with a rather petrified tone.

"Ah, eh….umm….So I'll be in the shipgirl dormitory okay?" Hiryuu-san hastily exited my room and walked towards the exit of the workshop. She didn't even bother unlocking the door from the inside. She just pushed the door forward destroying the lock itself that I painstakingly attached six hours ago.

It is really okay this way, Fustaku-san?

Forgetting your very existence that is—it was as if, you were just a side character of a mysterious novel? One part you were there and then you weren't.

Don't joke with me….dammit.

I shook my head after letting out a deep sigh. I shouldn't get myself get work up on this. I haven't met Fustaku-san myself. Truth be told, I knew nothing about him at all even though I've already translated his book all the way to chapter 34.

Though I haven't even translated the chapter title yet—

The man is basically a refracted straw inside the glass that has water in it. The words that he is saying is the total opposite of the actions that he is doing….I've edited a lot of things in this book that some sentences were already plain ambiguous already. Did I somehow mess up the original thought of the sentence and translated it into an ambiguous sentence? Should I stop editing them into third person or should I stick in first person view?

Dammit I've hit my translator's block. I won't be able to continue unless I do something about this issue.

You know what?

To hell with this—

I'm going to translate this in my own way. Whether Akashi-san would like it or not! No, she wouldn't even know that I did some major tinkering since she can't even understand the man's native tongue. Yes, she wouldn't mind at all.

"Alright."

With that issue out of the way, let's continue translating the book. I need to finish a good chunk of this book before Akashi-san arrives. Lastly, I need to fix Hiryuu-san's flight deck….ahhhhh, I'll do it tomorrow after I finish this chapter.

~o~

 **Present Day**

Akashi had multiple jobs inside Yokosuka Naval Base aside from working as a Repair Ship. Actually she has around five major jobs and nine minor jobs. Let's just focus on two major ones and a single minor one, alright?

One of Akashi's major jobs is producing shipgirl ammunition with different kinds of caliber, since shipgirl ammunition on both primary and secondary armaments aren't manufacturable in the industry due to some necessary materials being unavailable in the world market. Akashi is the only one who knows where to find these materials and how to convert them into shipgirl ammunition, in the Pacific Front that is. Shipgirl ammunition does not use any of the basic high grade materials like tungsten and chromium or any of the common materials like copper or lead that are used to manufacture ammunition.

Shipgirl ammunition primarily on main armaments and secondary armament are made of Albisium: A jet black high tension-high density material emitting unknown gamma like rays. A very scares material that can only be mined underneath the Ural Mountains as well as liberated Abyssal Islands in the Pacific.

Not much was revealed from Akashi why such material is used other than the single statement that she shared during the naval review of 2047.

"Once the material is subjected to proper amounts of high explosive filling the object would just vroom through abyssal armor like it was made of wet paper sheet"

Metallurgist and other element field sciences tried decoding that statement Akashi made on that day but until now—it's fruitless.

Another major job that Akashi handles is repairing shipgirl riggings. Riggings or some might call it battle riggings are those large mounted like objects that the shipgirls are carrying around their body. Each shipgirl are categorized by their own battle rigging, for example: A shipgirl that is taller than 170 and is armed with primary armaments that exceeds 356mm is considered a battleship. While shipgirls whose height is below 166cm is considered to be a destroyer.

"There done…"

Now for the minor job. One of Akashi's minor jobs is cleaning the shipgirl dormitory if time permits. Usually this happens every Sunday of a new week but sometimes this happens once a month if there are multiple shipgirls who got home with severe wounds.

Today is currently Sunday in Japan. This would be her first dormitory spring clean for this year. And with so much enthusiasm, Akashi headed first to the Carrier rooms floor, specifically the 2nd floor of the shipgirl dormitory.

"Alright! Prepare yourselves, dirt. I will kick your ass this time for sure—"Akashi's voice trailed off when she heard a faint chime inside the 'Shokkaku-class' room.

Using the master key on her hands she opened the door and saw a phone placed on an upright position on Zuikaku's desk. She knew this is Zuikaku's desk since Zuikaku had this bad habit of doing scratch marks on her table whenever she is feeling exited or just plain old restless.

The satellite phone to be precise was vibrating heavily on the said table that it's already making a noticeable rumbling noise. She took the satellite phone with her dominant hand and checked who the caller was. Unfortunately for her the owner had multiple sets of number placed on the name tab.

Not good, she said to herself as she let the satellite phone to ring for a couple of more seconds. She hesitated for a moment when her right thumb was placed on top of the green button. Does she really have to answer the call? Does she have the permission to do so? Furthermore wouldn't it be rude for me to just look away when I am already here prepared to answer the call?

The third question took a toll on her and finally after a couple of seconds of hesitation she pressed the green button and placed it on her ear.

"Hello?"

She felt like the air suddenly become still. There was no answer behind the call. The time was ticking which indicates that the conversation is still ongoing.

Not wanting to end the call without a proper conclusion, Akashi said "Moshi-moshi~? Aren't you going to speak up?" one last time.

But she received not a single word. Annoyed she let out a scoff as she placed her right index finger on the red button, right before she put pressure on the button however her name was called.

"Akashi?" Called a male's voice in English.

Akashi was taken aback that the caller identified her. Her heart started beating heavily once the realization came to her that a foreigner has identified her via her voice.

"Yes…this is Akashi…." She said as she bit the lower part of her lip.

"Oh, ah, it looks like she's out on a sortie huh? Well, I guess I should call back later…" The caller replied his tone a bit depressed when he knew who the receiver was.

"Wait-wait, who is this by the way? Who were you expecting huh?" Akashi asked in English wanting to know who the caller was.

"Oh, right, this is Ermest…..Fustaku…. dess." The man behind the phone introduced his name in Japanese.

Like a spotlight, Akashi's eyes widen when she learned the name of the caller. It's was just Fuck-san, she said to herself. And then like a low bell, it came to her.

"Wait, how did you get Zuikaku's number? Wait a minute, why do you sound unhappy when you learned that it was not Zuikaku? You even sound like you were expecting something like—"

"It's good to hear from you Akashi, how are you by the way?" Fustaku interjected.

"I am fine, thank you. I've been doing busy jobs lately since more and more shipgirls are being summoned every hour—wait you just changed the subject didn't you?!" Akashi shouted as she learned that Fustaku was avoiding the topic.

"Ah, new shipgirls are being summoned while were gone huh?" Fustaku replied seemingly amazed.

Akashi let out a sigh knowing that Fuck-san wouldn't want to answer her question. Since she hasn't seen Fuck-san for three days now after he and his platoon were sent into the mountains of Austria, this is a rare opportunity to talk to him. Akashi shrugged off the topic and just listened to him talk instead.

"You sounded like an important person for a second there. We'll yeah, we've been receiving a lot of salt lately from Austria for some unknown reasons. Anyhow how are you doing there? I've heard that the commanding officer there gave you a bad session."

Fustaku let out a soft laugh as he heard Akashi's remark. She then heard a muffled explosion at the background. Akashi casually sat on Zuikaku's table and pressed the speaker onto her ear.

"What was that?" Akashi asked.

"Oh, don't mind that one. It looks like the party on Wilhemsburg is almost concluding. Ah, friendly planes just passed by." Fustaku calmly described the chaos that's happening on the background.

"Party? On Wilhemsburg? Wait, that's part of Hamburg! Are you telling me you're on the European frontline right now?!"

There was this faint stillness that surrounded both Akashi and Fustaku. As the explosions in the background kept getting louder and louder...closer and closer. It was at this point that Fustaku let out an audible gulp.

"What?" Akashi asked with a dry tone.

A few seconds later a loud explosion rang on Akashi's ear. Akashi immediately pushed the satellite phone away from her ear out of instinct. The explosion was loud enough that her ears were making chimes.

"Ermest-san?! Ermest-san!" Akashi pressed the satellite phone on her left ear and shouted at the speaker.

"Sorry, Akashi. It looks like I won't be calling back for a couple of days. Say, why don't you save this number right now? You know how to operate a mobile phone right? Please save the number for Zuikaku' sake."

"Ah wait!"

And the call ended. A flat beep remained.

Akashi stared at the satellite phone on her hand with contempt. A few beeps here and there, she was able save the caller's I.D into the contacts tab. She then placed the satellite phone at Zuikaku's table and stared at it for a couple of more seconds.

"Wait…..when did the two of them get this close?"

She asked herself. Realizing that she she was left out on something big.

~o~

Highway Bridge B is a bridge that's 35 meters wide. The highway bridge stretches all the way across the outskirts of lower Saxony and into the small city of Mecklefield. This bridge is vital since this is the only remaining highway bridge in the city of Hamburg that is still unscathed.

Losing it would be a major setback for the European Alliance who are intent on pushing the Abyssals back to the Netherlands border.

Although the bridge is important, the commanding officer of the 9th Mechanized Division that was tasked on protecting the two remaining bridges focused all of its remaining soldiers into the first bridge which is Railway Bridge A, just approximately a kilometer away from Highway Bridge B. The only soldiers that were tasked on defending the second bridge was Fustaku's platoon nicknamed Platoon B and two Russian titans namely BT-1120 and BT-5003.

It was not long for the abyssals to realize that the second bridge is basically open for the taking. Fustaku however, refused to let that happen.

With just 13 soldiers and two titans in his command, Fustaku ordered his men to hastily dig foxholes at the opposite bank of Highway Bridge B. Intent on making an outer defensive perimeter

Fustaku ordered Lomo's squadron to dig foxholes on the western flat land at the side of the bridge, Etnaz's squadron stationed at the eastern side of the bridge, and Lucas' squadron making a column of sandbags on the bridge.

In his disposal are six machine guns, equally divided among the three squadrons and two mortars given to Lomo and Etnaz's platoon. Fustaku also made sure that the foxholes should be at least 180 centimeters deep and that it could fit at least two soldiers inside.

It was a very labor extensive plan but his platoon managed to finish the foxholes before the abyssals started shelling their positions.

As a precaution, Fustaku also ordered Etnaz and Lomo to plant anti-personnel mines 150 meters ahead of them, expecting a heavy influx of Hu-types coming their way.

"LT! 60 Chu-types, 600 meters away!" Val shouted at the radio.

What he did not expect however was the first wave of abyssals that attacked their position….a large horde of heavily armored abyssals classified as Chu-types also nicknamed Hummel by the European Alliance infantrymen.

"Shit…Fire the AT-600s now! Those mines won't do anything!" Fustaku yelled at his own radio.

Fustaku dug his own foxhole at the eastern side of the bridge together with Etnaz's platoon for reason being that he could see the road clearly from the eastern side since the ground is a bit elevated.

Behind him Val took an AT-600 from his foxhole and aimed at running Chu-type in front of him. He then removed the safety pin and yelled—

"Clear back blast!"

After firing at the Chu-type in front of him the rocket flew 953 m/s and landed directly at the Chu-type's shoulder, severing it due to the sheer amount kinetic energy and HE filament that was stored inside the projectile.

The others also fired their own rockets as well managing to bring down twenty Chu-types but more are coming near them. As the Chu-types bypass the minefield it was apparent that the integrity of their position was in danger.

Just as the Chu-types entered the 147 meter mark a random 75mm projectile landed on the Chu-type's head staggering it in the process. Fustaku turned his head behind him and saw a trail of smoke coming from the Russian Titans at the opposite bank.

The titans kept firing and firing until the Chu-types changed direction and retreated back into the woods on the western side where Lomo' squadron was stationed.

"What the hell?" Lomo yelled.

"Thank the fucking gods we drove them off…." Fustaku muttered as he immediately raised his binoculars at the horizon after seeing a glint from the edges of his view. "Shit, here they come…" he gritted, flipping the safety pin of his rifle into the opposite direction.

"LT, I don't think we have enough ammunition to hold on…" Zera's voice came to his ear.

"I know….Etnaz I want two members of your squadron to head back to the opposite side of the riverbank and order those titans to move forward. If they are still persistent on not moving forward at least bring additional ammunition for the MG's." Fustaku turned his head towards Etnaz who had his foxhole dug near him.

"That'll just make the eastern side undermanned!" Etnaz shouted his concern.

"I know….just pick two soldiers already." Fustaku urged as he lowered his binoculars and raised his rifle towards the horde of Hu-types coming their way.

Etnaz gritted as he too saw the large amounts of Hu-types coming their way. With two of his men ordered to pull back that'll only mean that there only four guys left to defend the eastern side. Either way he shook his head and ordered Mountain and Pura to run to the other side of the riverbank.

"Listen, bring at least ten canisters of MG rounds you got that? I've left the ammunition cache behind that small shack near the two Russian titans." Etnaz coldly said.

Mountain and Pura nodded simultaneously as they swung their rifles behind their back and ran towards the opposite river bank.

"Oi….Aim your guns properly and don't waste ammo. I wouldn't want Mountain and Pura to be left dying due to oxygen deprivation for running back and forth just deliver ammunition canisters…Lastly, don't you dare die on me now." Fustaku let out his last statement before all hell breaks loose on Highway Bridge B.

~o~

She's been her escort for almost three years now. Every single day she and her sister would follow the _bedrohlich_ in the Kriegsmarine.

A paper ship that was unknowingly summoned by Vice-Admiral Andrew Lutzow and was the first shipgirl ever summoned in the Kriegsmarine, her name was Battleship Hamburg of the unbuilt H41-Class Battleships.

"Well, I am also an paper ship so I digress."

"Hmm? You said something, Marelda?" Hamburg turned her head behind her and gave Marelda a confused look.

"No-no, I didn't say anything Hamburg…" Marelda waved her hand in denial.

"Hmm? Is that so….? Oh well, let's hurry up and link up with Admiral Hipper's fleet. We are told to immediately sortie after we arrive there." Hamburg added as she forced her attention to the side.

Marelda, formerly known as light cruiser M, is the nameship of the four M-class light cruiser sisters in the Kriegsmarine. She and her third sister Marié were tasked on escorting Hamburg's fleet designated Flotte 1 or Fleet 1 in this operation together with the 1st Destroyer Squadron: Z-41, Z-11, Z16, Z-10, Z-02 and Z-20.

They've been in the Elbe River for quite some time now. They've disembarked from Dresden a few hours back after receiving their new fittings from Cordon; a repair ship; whose plane crash landed on Dresden after her plane was ambushed by Fockewolves.

After receiving their new battle fittings they then disembarked along the Elbe River and headed north, straight to the city of Hamburg. Along the way however they were constantly harassed by Abyssal Stukas and Fockewolves.

They finally arrived at Hamburg around 9:30 in the morning but they received some damages especially to the older destroyers that had little AA armaments. Emergency repairs were desperately needed that's what Hamburg thought when she saw the state her fleet was in.

The moment she saw Highway Bridge B, Hamburg let out a sigh of relief knowing that she and her fleet have finally arrived at the city whose name was granted into her, Hamburg.

As they sail towards the bridge, Hamburg turned her attention to her left and saw a small group of soldiers digging foxholes on the grass field ahead of the highway bridge. She saw a soldier with a shovel on his hand facing towards her. As a gesture of comradeship she tipped her visor at the soldier that was looking at her and nodded.

Behind her, Marié was following Hamburg also glanced at the soldier. _He's a bit small for her_ , is that Marié thought after taking just a single glance at the soldier. She then hastens her speed until she was sailing alongside Hamburg.

"You know him, Hamburg?" Marié asked with a sneer on her face.

"Unfortunately, I do not know him. Furthermore, he's too short to be a soldier in the European Alliance." Hamburg added, her tone a bit cold.

Anyway, Hamburg shook her head and turned her attention towards Marié who was still sailing beside her.

"Furthermore, he's not a soldier from the European Alliance."

"No, wait, didn't you already say that a while ago?" Marié remarked.

"No-no, what I meant is that he's a soldier from from a certain Asian country. I saw his nationality patch on his shoulder and I know that flag belongs to a certain country that was overrun by abyssals during the 2nd year of the Abyssal War." Hamburg added, her tone a bit aloof.

Marié kept nodding and nodding until Hamburg stopped talking. Her expression then turned sour as she saw Hamburg staring at her with piercing eyes.

"You're not listening are you?!" Hamburg growled as she grabbed Marié by the shoulder and neck lock her using her right hand.

"Wait-wait-wait! I was listening! I was listening I tell you!" Marié yelped as she was being pummeled by Hamburg' strength.

Marelda let out a tired as sigh. Ominous or not, this battleship sure does have some issues she thought.

The small fleet then sailed pass Railway Bridge A, the fighting there was intense. Audible yells of pain and horror could be heard as they sailed underneath the bridge.

"Say, Hamburg—" Marelda raised her head towards the bridge above them before lowering her head once more towards Hamburg.

"We aren't helping them, Marelda. We have our own problems. Furthermore, we are in a strict time table. You wouldn't want Admiral Lutzow to get mad right?" Hamburg interjected, her attention focused at what's in front of her.

Slowly they sailed pass the railway bridge and along with it the cries of pain and help. Marelda turned her head once more, gritting her teeth as the distance of the railway bridge increased.

"To hell with this…" Marelda swore loudly as she turned clockwise and aimed her 20.3cm SK C/34 naval guns at the bridge.

She dialed-in at the elevation followed by the distance and then the amount of spread at which her rounds are going to level a certain area. All calculations completed, now…Fi—

"I told you not to interfere…." Hamburg swoops in between her view.

In a split second her view suddenly misaligned followed by a sudden urge to vomit. Marelda slowly succumbed into a halt as she lowered her head and let out a couple of deep breaths before raising her head towards the silhouette in front of her.

"What did you—?"

"I guess you should rest for now, Marelda." Hamburg cold reply as she burrowed her fist on Marelda's stomach.

Marelda's eyes rolled above her head revealing the whites of her eyes. Hamburg then caught Marelda's unconscious body and wrapped Marelda's arm over her neck.

Behind her, Marelda's sister Marié glared at her. Hamburg gave Marié the silent treatment while she carried Marelda's unconscious body by the shoulder.

"You better make sure that you'll win against me." Hamburg softly announced as she sailed pass Marié.

Marié only shook her head as she stared at Hamburg's tall figure.

"Asshole" Were the words she uttered as she finally decided to follow behind the group of destroyers.

As they sailed deeper into the city the fleet made a right turn towards a certain steel construction factory. That is the rendezvous point where Hamburg's fleet links up with Admiral Hipper's fleet. Hamburg waved her hand at Admiral Hipper; nameship of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers; who was standing inside a small observation building observing the group of shipgirls who were carrying corpses on a large river dock.

Hipper waved her hand in return and began to walk outside the building and into the river dock itself where the rest of her fleet was located.

"Took you long enough" Hipper spoke with a rather complacent tone as Hamburg's fleet prepared to dock.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Here, give this girl a repair bucket. I believe I've taken the light out of her." Hamburg manually removed Marelda's rigging and placed them on the river dock. After that she then extended Marelda's body to Hipper who was standing at the river dock.

"What in a world did you do to her?" Hipper asked with an irritated tone as she princess carry Marelda and ordered her second sister Blucher to carry Marelda's body into the makeshift repair dock on the main building.

"Big sis Hamburg performed a right uppercut on Big sis Marelda's stomach." Z-20 casually answered as she unsummons her riggings and ran away from the growling Hamburg.

Hipper let out a very tired sigh. She then glanced at the amount of holes on Hamburg's rigging.

"It looks like the mosquitoes have done their part."

"Shut it will you. I took the trouble of catching the bombs so that I wouldn't have to carry unconscious brats." Hamburg scowled at Hipper's remark as she too finally stood on the river dock after she unsummons her riggings.

Hamburg's tall figure towered over Hipper. In this case, Hipper was around 169 centimeters tall while Hamburg was around 188 centimeters, the tallest shipgirl in the Kriegsmarine.

Just by her presence alone, Hipper felt like a mere cat that's standing in front of a seasoned lion. Even Bismark who was believed to be the biggest during the Second World War was nowhere near to this colossus in front of her.

"Mind explaining the 60 bodies placed along the platform?" Hamburg asked as she glanced on her side.

"What you see already explains everything." Hipper responded crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Hey, I'm asking properly here..." Hamburg turned her head at Hipper and frowned at Hipper's blatant response.

With a deep sigh, Hipper walked pass Hamburg and kneeled at the nearest body placed on the cemented river dock. The bodies were covered with white fabric, blood stains could be seen seeping through the white fabric. Using her dominant hand, Hipper partially flipped the white fabric that was covering the corpse, revealing the face of a young looking submarine type shipgirl that had blonde hair and a purple skin.

"U-600?! Explain this to me Hipper! Why aren't these shipgirls on the repair docks yet?!" Hamburg shouted loudly that the other shipgirls that were talking near them glanced towards them and slowly dispersed not wanting to be included in the argument.

"Keep your mouth shut, Hamburg. I wouldn't want the younger destroyers to see this." Hipper casually says as she covered the head immediately.

"Screw that bullshit. You better start explaining shit Hipper or else—"

"Or else what Hamburg? They are already dead. We can't revive them using the same repair formula that I got from Concord. The very same repair formula that you and I use almost every day to heal our wounds. Now tell me, what are you gonna do, H41?"

Hamburg's expression soured as she heard her former name. With fury she grabbed Hipper by the neck and raised her above her head to the point that Hipper's stomach was already at the same level as Hamburg's head.

"You better tell me that you didn't sink them on purpose..." Hamburg growled.

Hipper slowly choked to submission. Drool started pouring out of her mouth as her skin paled as every second goes by.

"Ad-Lutzoooo-didddd tttthiiissss..."

Hamburg heard it...she heard it clearly. Something inside her immediately snapped like an overstretched rubber band.

"A-admiral...Lutzow...?"

Confused and furious she slammed Hipper on the cemented ground marking a large crater that was around one and a half feet deep. Cracks stretched along the river dock that some of the destroyers decided to hell with it and evacuate towards the main building via the connecting bridge.

Hamburg kneeled down and grabbed Hipper by the collar. Blood ooze out of Hipper's wounded head, her hands limply hanging at her side. But her attention did not wander, it was all focused at Hamburg's murderous eyes.

"Don't you fucking sully Admiral's reputation you bitch! I will kill you...I will kill you!"

"That's enough, Hamburg!" Huascaran grabbed Hamburg's hand and yanked it away from Hipper's collar.

"This does not involve you, repair ship!" Hamburg yelled back.

"This do involve me muscle head! She's hurt—you are hurt and it's my job as a repair ship to fix your wounds!" Huascaran yelled back as she threw a wrench at Hamburg's direction hitting her on forehead.

Hamburg let out a sharp 'ah!' as the wrench hit her forehead before landing on the cemented ground. At that point Hamburg was already fed that in her mind she also wanted to pummel Huascaran as well.

Just as she was about to make her move, multiple shipgirls restrained her from getting closer to the very small repair ship. Light cruisers, heavy cruisers, the small destroyers and even the two notorious battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

A grand total of thirteen shipgirls grabbed every nook and cranny of Hamburg's body trying their best to prevent her from making another step closer to the repair ship.

"Unhand me!" Hamburg yelled.

"Huascaran, grab Hipper already and get away from here! We'll hold her! Hurry while we still can!" Scharnhorst wailed at the small repair ship as she grabbed Hamburg's neck from the back while her sister Gneisenau grabbed Hamburg's stomach.

Huascaran averted her gaze from Hamburg before picking up Hipper from the ground. Hipper was already unconscious, and the only thing she could do now was carry the unconscious shipgirl and hope that the other thirteen shipgirls is enough to keep Hamburg at bay.

~o~

A couple of hours have passed and Hipper eventually woke up with her body inside a makeshift bathtub with green hued liquid inside. She was wearing her shipgirl attire whilst bask by the green fluid.

"You asshole, you shouldn't have placed those bodies there." Were the first words her ears were able meet. After hearing that she turns her head to the side and saw repair ship Huascaran tending Hamburg's unconscious body.

"Where did you expect me to put them...to the ground? They are submarines, putting their bodies near the river - in any case, a place where there is water, is the least thing that I could do to them as a secretary ship." Hipper shouted at the top of her lungs.

"You placed them on a place where shipgirls are expected to dock! Spare me the nobility bullshit that you got from your name cause what you did back there was plain ol' stupid. You were just begging Hamburg to beat you into a pulp!" Huascaran yelled back. Despite her small stature she has the loudest mouth in the Kriegsmarine - that one would expect that she's actually louder than a drill sergeant.

"They're dead, Huascaran! What were you expecting me to do?!" Hipper asked, tears coming out of her eyes.

"Bury them on the ground like most soldiers do! They deserved to be buried on the ground not in an old fashioned burial in sea bullshit! The abyssals are just going to reuse their corpses and send them our way to fucking murder you during your sorties! I've already killed 20 of my own comrades who were repurposed into abyssal submarines because you fucking noble knack heads don't know how to bury a dead person correctly!" Huascaran was beet red in fury. After putting the repair formula on Hamburg's bathtub she stood up and grabbed a wrench from a nearby toolbox and a slams it the rims of Hipper's bathtub.

"I will bury them myself. Stay here and get fix. Once Hamburg wakes up apologize to her and the other 13 shipgirls who tried their best to restrain her. You are supposed to be the secretary shipgirl in the whole navy and yet you are even more immature than a newly summoned destroyer who doesn't know shit." Huascaran added as she hastily walked out of the room leaving behind Hipper and Hamburg on their own.

Huascaran found herself behind the main building where a large tree could be seen on an open field. Underneath that said tree are 60 shipgirls lined neatly on a row. The white fabric that was used to cover their bodies were removed and piled up beside the two battlecruisers awaiting Huascaran's arrival.

"Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, thanks for arranging them for me." Huascaran softly uttered at the two battlecruiser sisters in front of her.

"Don't mention it, Huascaran. We'll be at the river dock if you need anything from us." Gneisenau placed her left hand on Huascaran' shoulder before walking pass her. Scharnhorst only nodded and gave Huascaran a long shovel.

The tree rustled audibly as the strong wind slowly pass over the vicinity. As the repair ship move closer and closer, she could see clearly the faces of the deceased shipgirls that she failed to save.

The shovel limply fell from her arms and into the grass. Her knees fell to to the ground a second later. Her body was shaking badly; she let out a wheeze unable to suppress the pain inside her heart.

"Oh god...oh god...oh god~" The tears poured out of her eyes as she reminiscent the moments before the Submarine Flotte 7 was completely destroyed.

Not too long ago, these submarines were teasing her for being short. Not too long ago these submarines treated her with a chicken bucket before their eventual sortie to blockade the abyssals from escaping into the Wadden Sea. Not too long ago these shipgirls were laughing, cursing, yelling, swearing, and singing inside the main building.

Now, all that's left was silence and their peaceful expressions left embedded on their faces while their eyes were closed.

Their bodies had multiple tear wounds after being bombed by depth charges for twelve hours. Not a single retreat order was passed, one by one their numbers dwindled and before long the last surviving submarine let out a single Morse code message into the Kriesmarine High Command HQ in Kiel.

"Ahhhhhh...ahhhh!"

Huascaran cried as she remembered the cold message that was passed into her detachment fleet. How she cursed High Command for letting this happen. How she hastily ordered Hipper's fleet to sortie and retrieve the bodies of Submarine Flotte 7 despite strict orders not to sortie the surface task force.

"I am terribly sorry..." Huascaran softly uttered as she wailed in sorrow. "I'm so sorrry..."

With a trembling hand Huascaran grabbed the shovel next to her. With a clouded heart she stood up from the ground and suppressed her tears.

With a swift movement she started digging the ground. The number of strokes increased and the depth eventually deepens into a certain height.

Huascaran stabs the shovel into the ground and walked at the first person placed on the farthest on the left…The flagship of the submarine flotte 7, U-600.

She tried wiping away the tears from her eyes using her dirtied hands. In a princess carry she slowly approached the grave that she just dug. Gently she placed the body on the hole, making sure that her position is just right. After that she removed U-600's cap that had stitches, writing the owner's name of the cap. These submarine caps are the pride of every submarine type shipgirl in the navy, as this acts as an identity for them.

With the shovel on her hand, Huascaran buried the exposed body of the deceased shipgirl into the grave, she then placed a wooden makeshift cross at the outer edge of the grave. Lastly she placed the cap on the vertical stick.

"Ha..." Huascaran wheezed as she moved a bit further away from the first grave.

It took some time, but eventually she finally finished giving the destroyed submarine shipgirl fleet a proper burial.

She stood at the middle of the columns of freshly dug graves. After finishing her resting rites suddenly she felt one of her pockets vibrating. With a cold look and a stained hand she placed her hand inside her pocket and grabbed her cellular phone.

"Yeah?" Huascaran said with a somber tone.

"He-hey there Hua-chan. Umm, can I ask you a favor?" The caller spoke with a rather hesitant tone.

"What is it?"

"Well the truth is….um…..A group of shipgirls from my fleet should've arrive at your position right now. Have you made contact yet?" The caller asked.

Huascaran was confused by the caller's tone and question. With a furrowed look, Huascaran lowered the phone from her ear and stared at the name of the caller that was miraculously saved on her contacts.

It was a fellow repair shipgirl like her.

"No, I haven't made contact with them yet." Huascaran placed the phone back into her ear and said those words.

"Ah, is that so? Um, would you mind calling me once you made contact with them?" The caller pleaded.

"Hmm? Is there something wrong, Akashi?" Huascaran asked.

"No, not really…it's just….the flagship of the said group wanted me to call you. Making sure that her group safely arrived in Hamburg…Call me once you made contact okay?" Akashi explained before abruptly ending the conversation there.

Huascaran stared at the phone once more. Wondering what the fuss was about.

~o~

I was at my wits end when my luck finally decided that I've had enough of this insanity. The Hu-types that were swarming us like ants was finally stopped.

It was like a massive graveyard, where small craters and the pile of uncountable bodies of Hu-types were sprawled all over the 150 meter radius. The mass graveyard stretched over 600 meters bypassing the minefield that my men laid 150 meters away from their foxholes.

The barrels of the machine guns that were placed in fix positions were bright red after being fired for over three hours consuming 22 MG canisters and over 22,000 rounds were used. The machine guns were so hot, that MG operators namely: Vas and Mop were basically using toaster gloves just to keep themselves from burning their hands as they replaced the barrels multiple times in quick succession in just a span of three hours.

It was way pass noon and the Highway Bridge B was basically successfully defended by my platoon of 13 men and a pair of russian titans.

The Russian titans even retreated multiple times just to refill their spent cannon ammunitions. Despite the fact that they still refused to move a single step forward or even crossing the bridge. However they were still valuable for my men who needed their firepower so that they could get the Hu-types at bay.

With heavy breathing, I lowered the barrel of my rifle and leaned my head upward making sure that there aren't any Hu-types remaining that were hiding among the dead. After that, I raised my body out the foxhole that had a sea of castings on the ground and turned my head and body clockwise to check whether the area was now safe.

"Clear!" I shouted.

One after another my men also got out of their foxholes and awed at the amount of Hu-types that they just mowed down.

"Holy shit" Mountain loudly remarked after seeing the killing field.

"Remind me to award Mountain and Pura with Purple Hearts for successfully delivering ammunition for the MGs." I announced as I turned my head at Lucas who also nodded in agreement to my announcement.

"Hey isn't that unfair?! Val, Vas, and I did most of the killing here!" Zera poured his complaint.

"Yeah it's unfair for our part!"

"Shut it both of you! The two ammo carriers had to jog 400 meters with more than 80 kilograms of weight on their hands just to deliver ammunition to you peashooters!" Lomo shouted back clearly irritated at the previous complaint.

"I can do that too!" Zera added.

"So do I!" Vas added as well.

With my dominant hand I pinched the bridge of my nose, irritated by the fact that that these idiots were complaining that I gave a special citation to the two ammo carriers. With a heavy sigh, I instead uttered an order.

"Alright shut up and get those bodies away from the line of fire. Use the bodies as fortifications if you have to since they don't odor like most corpses do."

"We're gonna need to put barbwires and replant the mines as well. We might face an even greater amount of Hu-types in the next wave." Lomo remarked pointing his hand at the depleted minefield 150 meter away."

"How many mines did you plant?" I pondered.

"On the west, well around 170 mines." Lomo answered.

"Yours?" I then turned to Etnaz who was standing on my left.

"Around 200."

"How the hell did the two of you plant that many?" I asked with a shudder.

"Well since the Hu-types were basically mindless abyssals we just placed the mines as is and didn't bury them to the ground." Etnaz answered.

Behind us another complaint suddenly erupted. "No wonder a mine shard flew to my foxhole in a speed of sound because you idiots didn't bury them to the ground like most mines are supposed to be used! I almost died because a random shrapnel almost hit me you know?!" Zeno points his hand at the mine piece sticking out of his foxhole.

"Buzz off" Etnaz and Lomo simultaneously spoke.

I scratched the back of my neck as I crouched down and examined the dead Hu-type near my boots. It had its jaws torn off, its eyes were beet red, and its skin was jet black and parasitic like organisms were coming out of its body. On second thought, should I really order my men to use these bodies as additional fortifications?

"LT, the commanding officer of the company that we were attached on is watching us from across the bridge." Mop came in front of me and said those words.

I turned my head clockwise and saw Captain Vladimir Putin using his binoculars towards us. I raised my body and swung my rifle to my back. Mop who alerted me about the Captain's presence turned towards Etnaz and helped him carry a dead Hu-type towards the east foxhole.

On the other hand, I walked along the highway bridge and approached the Captain. He lowered his binoculars as the distance between the two of us decreased. He then shook his head and asked with incredulity.

"How in a world did you guys manage to stay alive?" Captain Putin asked.

"Oi, you sounded like you purposely ordered us to make foxholes on the other side so that we would be butchered to death." I loudly said as I came to a halt beside him.

"No-no, I was told to send 50 additional soldiers to the second bridge hence here we are. But it seems we already arrived too late."

"Too late to do any work…" I said softy as I watched my men pilling up the bodies on the road.

It seems like Lucas is building a makeshift roadblock on the road just beside his sandbags. Lomo on the other hand just placed the bodies around their foxholes so that the shrapnels from the abyssal artillery won't sprawl towards their exposed positions.

"Anyway, why don't you guys get some proper shut-eye on the steel plant ahead of the railway bridge? Third Company has already garrisoned themselves there. The 50 soldiers that I've brought along with me will take over for here." Captain Putin said to me as he waved his hand towards his men.

"Is that okay? I mean we can still go about for a couple of days or maybe weeks if we are only supplied with ammunition constantly." I said to him confidently.

"You seem to have great confidence on your men. Cockiness won't get you anywhere in this battlefield. I do not know what kind of battles you have faced on the Eastern Theater but in the flatlands of Europe. A stationary target is an easy target." Captain Putin says with a low tone as he followed the men he ordered to move forward.

What kind of battles he said. Cockiness he said. He's right, I shouldn't be too complacent on a battlefield that I hardy even know. This is our first baptism of fire; we just managed to repulse that attack on our own. If Mountain and Pura were to die whilst carrying the ammunition for the MG's, we wouldn't have lasted very long.

Well, ain't that nice that we are relived a bit earlier?

With my dominant I pressed the transmitter of my radio and ordered Lomo to gather up the men on the other side of the bridge. I also told him to leave behind the MG's and the mortars since the relief force might need them.

The men in my platoon immediately stopped carrying the bodies of the Hu-types and just walked across the bridge like what they experienced a few hours ago was just business as usual.

So where the hell is this steel plant near the railway bridge who know what how to pronounce? I unzipped my chest pocket and took the map that was given to me during the quick briefing before we took our positions near this bridge.

Ah, its three kilometers away from the highway bridge. Unfortunately I wouldn't want my men to walk three kilometers. Mountain and Pura haven't even got their rests yet. And by sheer luck, I turned my eyes near the first titan standing behind the bridge.

Behind that said titan was a transport truck. It's a very old looking transport truck not like the ones that we were transported on a while back to reach Hamburg. I could order Mop to drive the bloody thing since he's the only one who know how to drive a truck.

It was not long for them to finally reach the opposite side of the bridge. Etnaz gave me a tired look and I only gave him a side glance towards the truck behind the titan.

"Look, I've already told you a week ago that I don't know how to drive a truck." He said.

"I wasn't asking. I was merely telling you that we'll be burrowing that truck so that we can reach the steel plant not in marching formation. And according to Bex, your former commanding officer, you suck at driving." I said to him.

"Why do you always roast me like this LT? Anyway who's driving then?" He asked.

I pointed my finger at Mop who was standing beside Vera and Val. He glanced towards me so I gestured him to come closer.

"What?" He asked.

"Drive the truck, we're getting out of here." I said.

"We can finally go back to Japan now?!" He yelled prompting the others to glance our way.

"Idiot! I don't want Engineer Holland to chase us if ran away back to Japan!" I yelled back as I shook my head in irritation. "Just go already. Also, tell Lomo and the others to mount-up on the truck."

Mop nodded as he ran towards the truck. Lomo then gathered up the men and told them to get inside the truck. As that was going on, I lowered my head towards the broken satellite phone on my vest. I lost my motivation to call back, after all Zuikaku might be on a major sortie right now and she might return to the naval base in the evening. Since the time difference here in Germany is only slightly different from Japan, I might as well call her around eight in the evening. If I can fix this phone by that time.

I glanced towards my wrist watch and realized that it was already way pass noon. I even lost my appetite on that encounter….

"Blarghhhhhh"

Unknowingly I vomited the empty contents of my stomach to the asphalt. Shit, I suddenly remembered the dead Hu-type. How the worms were moving side to side on the ground…..

"Blarghhhhhh"

Damn, I did not expect that I would vomit on that kind of grotesque scene. I've seen grotesque things before, I've seen dismembered limbs before, and I've seen dead bodies before. But this would be my first vomiting on something that I considered to be disgusting.

After letting out a couple of deep breaths I walked towards the truck. Mountain was looking at me with a worried look on his face.

"You alright, LT?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Move a bit, I'll sit near the exit." I said to him as I grabbed his extended hand and climbed inside the truck.

"All in! Let's go Mop!" Val shouted and then slammed his hand on the roof of the truck twice.

The back of the transport truck was basically open. We could feel the wind coming towards us as the truck increased speed. Not just the cold breeze of the afternoon scenery, but as well as the odor of the battlefield.

I leaned my body on the truck's side guard and raised my head to the sky once more. I couldn't see the sun since it was blocked by the gray clouds. Oh, gray clouds. It seems that it's going to rain soon.

I then lowered my head and glanced at the railway bridge. It was an utter mess. The rails were destroyed and four titans lay motionless on the ground with dead soldiers lined up on the ground. It was a good thing that we only faced unarmed Hu-types…I wonder what would've happened if the armed ones came our way.

Just by thinking about it is making me uneasy.

We eventually arrived at the steel plant that Captain Putin talked about.

By the time we arrived there a group of soldiers could be seen setting a camp near the river. We decided to drop off on a flat ground near the Russian soldiers that were already there. Unfortunately for us, none of them can speak English. So we decided to leave them alone and mind our own business a few meters away from them.

Since we didn't have any materials to set up a tent we decided to place our bags on the grass and just rest there.

Mountain is the best cook back when I was still the commanding officer of the Una Company. I actually ordered him to cook us a decent meal since we haven't eaten anything since morning, and it's already way pass noon.

And by the time Mountain was finished heating up the soup that we took from the river, the men were already dozing off by the accumulated fatigue.

Mountain and I were the only ones left awake. "LT, I can't believe they just doze off before I can even distribute the soup." Mountain complained as he gave me my canteen containing the soup.

"Well you can't blame them. We just went through hell on our first battle. Sorry for forcing you to cook while the others doze off." I said to him in pity as I scooped the soup using a disposable spoon.

"Its fine, they'll gotta have to reheat the soup on their own since I won't be reheating it. Cover up the lid once you are done, will you?" Mountain says as he finished eating his own share.

I slowly stood up from my sitting position and approached the container that we used to cook the soup. I then grabbed the lid that was placed on top of a horizontal brick and placed it at the brim of the container.

The soup was great, although it was a bit bitter since we were lacking ingredients but it was enough to make the soup edible.

As I walked away from the container, I turned my head towards Mountain and realized that he was already dozing off after finishing his own share of the soup. I too felt a bit tired. With lethargic movements I approached my bag and sat near it.

I then leaned on top of it as I lay my body on the grassy ground. Although it was a bit uncomfortable because of the sharp tips of the grass but I didn't complain since by the time I was about to utter a complaint, I was already dozing off.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon I was abruptly awaken by Etnaz who had his pilot helmet worn on top of his head. I can tell its Etnaz since he actually had the free time to scribble his name on his helmet's forehead.

"What is it?" I let out a groaning question.

"LT, it's about to rain any moment now. We should relocate inside that garage over there to seek cover from the rain since we don't have any tents with us unlike those Russian soldiers there." He said.

"I doubt those men would share some space for us." I said to him.

"Precisely. I already ordered Val and Vas to find us a good spot. Lomo already ordered Mop to relocate the truck near that building over there." Etnaz explained as he pointed his finger at the buildings behind us.

Since I was dead asleep before we managed to mobilize, Lomo was kind enough to actually pack my things as well. However, inside this long bag is just a single pair of underwear, six pairs of socks, two pairs of green shirt, a single pair of my old uniform before I was given this pilot uniform, extra magazines for my rifle, and a box of first aid. I think I should buy Lomo a drink to repay my debts…he has done so many things for me. He's like a mother to me already.

I raised my body on an upright position and grabbed the long bag that I used as a pillow. I then grabbed my rifle and followed Etnaz towards the building that he pointed a second ago. Glancing behind me I already realized that the others have already relocated leaving me alone with Etnaz.

The two of us followed a pavement that leads into a wall that looks like it was destroyed by heavy ordinance. We then come across this open field that had a single tree located at the middle and a row of freshly buried graves that had makeshift wooden crosses. Above these said crosses are small sailor caps placed on top of each cross.

I counted the fresh graves by eye and there are around 60 of them in total. That's a lot of casualties. Etnaz who was standing beside me made a sign of the cross and let out a quick prayer.

"What do you think happen to them, LT?" Etnaz asked beside me.

"I don't know. There are many things that could get you killed in a warzone like this. Either by hunger, infected wounds, rape, murder, getting shot, bombed, mortared, mined, and so forth." I said to him honestly.

"Do you think they are armed personnel?"

I stared at the cap placed on top of the cross. It really resembles a sailor's cap that I once saw back in Yokosuka.

"A navy enlisted soldier or a shipgirl. That's all I could guess." I answered as I crouched down and examined the cap closely.

A moment too soon, I saw a small girl standing beside the said tree with a shovel on her hand. It was a young looking girl around 160 centimeters in height and had a body resembling a female middle schooler. She was glaring at me. I could only look at her in bafflement as she slowly exited the tree's shadow and spoke with a very intimidating tone.

"Don't you dare steal those caps you fucking twits…!" The girl said in English.

Slowly I stood up from my crouching position and tried reasoning out with her. Etnaz who was beside me slowly removed his helmet and gave the girl a worried smile.

"We weren't gonna do anything to them. We were just guessing what type of people that were buried here, nothing more." Etnaz explained.

"And what good does that do? If you really wanna know then those girls that I buried are shipgirls. Though, I highly doubt that you monkeys even know what a shipgirls is." The little girl answered still glaring at us.

I glanced at Etnaz after hearing her answer. Etnaz scratched his ear as he slowly walked away and approached one of the half destroyed garage right outside the large building on my right.

"My name is Ermest E. Fustaku. I am the commanding officer of a small platoon that took shelter over there. We were—"

Before I could finish my sentence however the rain downpours, drenching me and the little girl standing in front of me with a shovel on her hand.

"So, what's a platoon originating from Asia doing in Europe?" The little girl asked.

My right eyebrow unknowingly raised, I glanced to my shoulder and realized that I actually had my nationality patch there.

"Uhh, we were actually sent here by Admiral Goto to retrieve something from a man. But before we could finally get home we were transferred into the frontline to field-test the things that we were supposed to be retrieving here."

I was actually having some conflicting thoughts whether its okay to spill the beans to this little girl. Then again—

"Admiral Goto huh? So I believe you knew Akashi as well?" The little girl asked.

"Akashi? You mean repair Akashi from the Combined Fleet?"

The little girl nodded. She then stabs the shovel to the ground and placed her right hand on her left chest.

"I am Repair ship Huascaran of the Kriegsmarine." The little girl said.

And so it appears that I actually met a shipgirl here of all places…A small girl like her could've been a destroyer or a destroyer escort but a repair ship?

"Aren't you feeling cold? Why don't you follow me inside?" Huascaran says as she took the shovel and walked towards the building on my right.

I didn't utter a single word. I just followed her inside the building. Well there aren't any actual doors since we just entered a large hole embedded on the wall. Once I got inside my radio screeched and a voice followed.

"LT? Are you still talking with that little girl in the rain? Get in here or you might catch a cold." It was Etnaz's voice.

"Nah, the little girl is actually a shipgirl of the Kriegsmarine. I am actually taking shelter on the opposite building, following her. Why don't you come over?" I transmitted on the radio.

"Alright, the others are moving out." Lucas voice then followed after.

"There's this large hole on the wall located at the right corner of the building. I am currently waiting just outside the hole." I said to them.

It was not long when my men finally arrived, drenched from the rain with their long bags partially wet. Lomo was the last one to arrive carrying his long bag and a polymer box that's around two feet long.

"What in a world is inside—"

"Feast your eyes, LT." Lomo threw his long bag on the ground and then followed by the box opening in a horizontal manner. "It's a can full of Corned Beef!" Lomo announced.

And here I thought I've exhausted my months' worth of luck after surviving a horde of Hu-types in a single day. I did not expect a box full of edible food to be found on small garage!

"What the hell…" I said as I crouched down and examined the canned food.

It was an Argentinian made corned beef. There's no mistake this is indeed an Argentinian made corned beef, the food's label as well as the instructions says so.

"It's not yet sullied that's for sure." I said as I rotated the can counterclockwise and saw the expiration date of the can to be next year.

"It looks like we scored a good one LT. Dinner's gonna be great." Mop said from behind.

I placed the can back into the box and gave Mountain a raised eyebrow. Immediately, he let out tired sigh and a worn out tone.

"Fine-fine, I'll cook six cans for the platoon." He said.

A couple of smiles and laughter soon followed as we heard Mountain's words. In the gist of it a tall woman that was wearing a gray and black attire peeked her head from a corner before entering the said corridor that we were gathering on.

She appears to be a shipgirl as well, seeing that her hair color to be silver. She was speaking in her native language as well so we couldn't get the gist on what she was saying. Then the shipgirl that I followed a moment ago, Huascaran, also arrived and talked to the unknown shipgirl. The silver haired shipgirl nodded and walked away from our view.

"Hmm, so 13 soldiers all in all. I did not expect to be seeing this many soldiers gathered around a box full of can goods this close to the front line." Huascaran says with both of her hands resting on her waist.

"Well we were suddenly transferred into the front so we weren't able to fully pack some rations since we thought that we won't be staying here for too long. I did not expect that we'll be replacing a depleted platoon of the Russian Mechanized Division." I said to her.

"Then what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be reinforcements for those unfortunate soldiers?" Huascaran asked.

"Uhh, we came from the front just a few hours ago until we were relieved by our company commander." Val explained who was leaning his back on a wall.

Huascaran furrowed her eyebrow as she glanced at Val. She then tilted her head slightly to the right.

"And you are?"

"Pvt. Romeo Valdez, call me Val in short." Val introduced himself with his hands crossed in front of him.

"Hmm, is that so? Then let me reintroduce myself to the soldiers here. I am Repair ship Huascaran of the Kriegsmarine. I am the high ranking officer of this makeshift forward base. If any of you yellow monkeys do anything stupid with my shipgirls. Consider yourself buttered with 12cm rounds, alright?"

Simultaneously everyone around me nodded. I can't believe that small shipgirl in front of me could actually emit a strong authoritative aura.

"If you need anything, I will be waiting at the next corridor. Don't bother me if when I am working…you got that?!"

And then she left.

Tez gave me this look. A look that was asking what I did to her since she had this very strict tone towards them. I could only shrug at him in return.

"So, since its still 17:10 in the afternoon. Why don't we hunker down for a bit and wait until 18:30?" I said to my men around me.

"Might as well cook the corned beef right now! Who knows when will be forwarded into the front line again." Vas shouted.

"Vas' got a point. Before our relief order expires, why don't we have our dinner early?" Rem says in agreement.

"Nah, you are just hungry. Seriously Rem, when are you gonna stop acting like that. If you are hungry then say it with a straight face." Mountain gave Rem a deadpanned look as he approached the box and took six cans of corned beef.

Mountain then took some bricks from the ground and arranged them in a triangular shaped figure.

"Fuck off…every single one of us here is hungry. It's not just me!" Rem complained but Mountain was not hearing any of it as he walked out of large hole and ran on the opposite side to retrieve some wet twigs for the fire.

I stood up from my couching position and placed my long bag at the corner of the corridor. After that I approached a destroyed wall that leads to the corridor in which Huascaran's location is.

"Don't wonder too far, LT." Zeno's voice came to my ear.

I turned my head clockwise and said, "You guys stay here and hunker up while Mountain cooks the corned beef. You guys better leave some behind!" I yelled before vaulting myself over the said destroyed wall.

The moment I entered the opposite wall what I saw was a row of bathtubs with metal hangers placed beside them. There are three bags each on every hanger, one looks like a bag of blood, another is an IV fluid and the last one resembles a repair formula.

Huascaran was standing beside an occupied bathtub. There are six of them all in all but it appears that only one of them is occupied.

"Yoh." I said to her.

"What do you want?" Huascaran coldly asked.

That question caught me off guard. I don't even know why I approached her in the first place.

"So, umm, you knew Akashi?" I asked her.

Huascaran focused her eyes on the shipgirl that was sleeping on the bathtub. This shipgirl had a long black hair and her black officer's cap covering most of her face.

"Yes, I knew her. Well, I pretty much knew every single repair ships that are currently summoned right now. That includes Kamchatka, Concord, Asahi, Fylgia, and Laugen." Huascaran answered.

Well among those names that she has uttered the only one I knew was Asahi, which was a battleship-type shipgirl that was converted into a repair ship due to her outdated armaments and lack of speed.

"About those graves—"

"Just put it to rest will you?" Huascaran interjected.

"I was just wondering why you didn't revive them using the repair formula. From my personal experience, Akashi was able to heal my wounds as well as regrow the severed limbs of my pointman." I said to her.

Huascaran let out a sigh and she leaned forwards placing both of her elbows on her two knees. She then placed her left hand underneath her chin and stared at the shipgirl who was sleeping on the bathtub.

"To cut to the chase…those shipgirls are un-revivable." Huascaran casually answered.

"Un-revivable? What do you mean?"

Akashi's repair formula was like an elixir that could bring back the dead. And here I am hearing the words of a repair ship saying that those shipgirls can't be revived.

"It means I can't bring them back alive, nitwit. They were sunk by abyssal depth charges that contain unknown elements that prevent a shipgirl to be revived." Huascaran answered with an irritated tone. "Forget it. You are just a normal foot soldier of course you wouldn't understand even if I explain it to you in detail."

"Um, hard to break it to you but I'm not just an ordinary grunt." I said to her.

"Hmm, why's that?" She asked.

"Well for starters." I placed my rifle on top of an elevated position while I leaned my body on a nearby wall crossing my arms in front of me as I faced her. "I am what you call as a Titan pilot."

"Oh, you are no ordinary grunt because you are an extraordinary grunt. Makes sense." Huascaran added.

This shipgirl, does she have a grudge against Army enlisted men or something? Hey, I am just trying to be a friendly person here.

"So? Since you are here, you have something to ask to me?" Huascaran added.

Well, it seems I need to cut to the chase now?

Slowly I placed my right hand on my back and retrieved an object. With a menial laugh I presented the object on my hand into her.

"Umm, can you fix this for me? I accidentally stepped over it…" I said to her as I extended the broken satellite phone on my hand to her.

Huascaran's expression quickly broke down into something more than an irritated person.

"Look, I am a repair ship not a cellphone mechanic." Huascaran says. "If you want this phone to be fixed, why don't you go to Berlin or a nearby city that's close to the front line and have it fixed."

"It's no good huh? I thought repair ships can fix electronic devices as well since Akashi fixed my radio a while back." I said to her with a depressed look.

"Oi, don't lump me together with Akashi. She's in a whole different level than I." Huascaran complained as she took the satellite phone from my hand using her petite hands.

With my left hand I scratched the back of my neck as I reveal to her how I broke the satellite phone.

"Well this phone was actually placed inside my foxhole. During the heat of the firefight I ran out of ammunition so I ran out of my foxhole to restock. I came back running for dear life since there were mortar rounds coming our way. In the lieu of the confusion I jumped boots first into the foxhole and landed on the satellite phone, breaking it in half." I explained to her.

Huascaran's left eyebrow twitched after listening to my explanation.

"What are you a protagonist of a certain comical skit or something?" Huascaran says.

Well you could say that? I've been through a lot of things already. I've died a couple of times, revived a couple of times, and only experienced sex once. I mean, doesn't that outweigh the last one?

"Well that's about it. I can't help you unfortunately, Lieutenant. I suggest you to throw this one to the side for now and buy a new one once this battle is over." She says right before a tall shipgirl arrived wearing the same uniform as the one on the bathtub.

She was speaking in German so I couldn't understand what she is saying. Huascaran's expression on the other hand was pretty clear to me. She was looking lethargic, with a sigh she stood up from the chair giving me the broken satellite phone and approached the newly arrived shipgirl.

"I have important matters to attend to, Lieutenant. See you later." She said.

Huascaran's figure faded from my view together with the newly arrived shipgirl. With our conversation finished I turn around and returned to the opposite corridor in which my men are hunkering down.

~o~

"What do you mean an Asian looking soldier arrived with a large Gundam? Have you been watching too much cartoons lately, Nurnberg?" Huascaran said in disbelief.

"What else do you want me to identify the thing that she brought with her? A transformer, a cyborg, Frankenstein or whatever?" Nurnberg complained at the small repair ship.

The two of them arrived at the front entrance where a large robot was standing with a soldier sitting on the ground with its head raised into the raining sky.

"See?" Nurnberg urged.

"That's a titan you nitwit. You've seen one back when we were still in Kiel." Huascaran lightly punched at Nurnberg's arm before coming out into the rain.

"Oi, are you just gonna drench yourself in the rain or what?" Huascaran said in German.

The pilot lowered her head and faced Huascaran. The pilot let out a "Hmm?" As it stood up from the ground and approached the small repair ship. As the pilot finally arrived in front of Huascaran, the pilot removed its helmet revealing its brown hair and Asian looking features.

"Pardon me. But can you speak English?" The female pilot says.

"Hmm? Another foreigner huh, so what do you want?" Huascaran asked in English.

"Oh, so um, I was told that my platoon was hunkering down in this building. I approached that shipgirl over there if ever she saw Asian soldiers entering the building. But it appears she couldn't understand me and hastily entered the building before I could say anything."

Huascaran tilted her head to the right and saw the female pilot's nationality patch. _So you are part of his platoon huh?_ Were the words that popped inside Huascaran's head as she saw the female pilot's nationality patch.

"They're at the back of this building. Just take a left turn her and follow the pavements into a destroyed wall. You should be able to see a large tree. Don't you dare disturb the grave you hear me?! Take another right turn until you see a large hole on another wall leading to a corridor. Your platoon should be there waiting for you." Huascaran pointed her right hand on the right side.

The female pilot nodded as she raised her head towards the titan and said "Let's go Venset!" and ran towards the right side of the building, the ground shook as the titan followed its pilot into the corner.

Huascaran could only shook her head twice before re-entering the building again to take shelter from the rain.

"What was that all about?" Nurnberg asked.

"Nah, she was just looking for her platoon so I gave her the directions. Anyway has Hamburg's fleet as well as Scharnhorst's fleet already reached the Wadden Sea?" Huascaran asked.

Nurnberg nodded in affirmation as she followed Huascaran who was returning to the repair ward. Huascaran then sat on the chair near Hipper who was still sleeping on the bathtub.

"Hamburg got out first since she only received minor injuries from the 13 shipgirls that tried stopping her. Hipper on the other hand received the might of the strongest shipgirl in the Kriegsmarine." Nurnberg says.

"Nah, that show off still has minor injuries on her stomach and sides. She just doesn't want to be left behind while the others set off to another blockade sortie into the Wadden Sea. They should be coming back around 20:30 in the evening." Huascaran said to Nurnberg.

"What are about the soldiers taking shelter in the building or the Russian soldiers making camp outside the building?" Nurnberg asked once more.

"Leave them be. They'll be returning to the front line soon. Once that happens the perimeter should quite down a bit." Huascaran added.

A few seconds later a loud cheering roar erupted from a nearby hole. English expressions like "What took you so long?!" and "Where the hell have you been?!" followed by un-understandable words.

"The soldiers back there sure are energetic." Nurnberg says with a tired look.

"Well, they must've been worried sick about her. After all, it looks like she's the only female soldier on that said platoon. I wonder if Akashi knew about this." Huascaran says out loud.

As she raised her head into the ceiling a dumbfounded voice followed that immediately silenced the cheering crowd.

"Hiryuu?"

 **Chapter End**


End file.
